Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism

The early to mid 20th century was a fertile period for Brazilian art – two major institutions, the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) and the Rio de Janeiro Museum of Modern Art, were established in the 1940s, and in 1951 Brazil held its inaugural biennial, the second international biennial after Venice. Now, in the year that MASP is due to reopen after extensive renovations, the Royal Academy in London is dedicating an exhibition to Brazilian modernist art (28 January–21 April). Some 130 works by 10 artists are on show, ranging from the colourful figurative art of Anita Malfatti – often regarded as one of the first Brazilian artists to be influenced by European modernism – to the paintings of the self-taught Indigenous artist Djanira, the quasi-cubist works of Vicente do Rego Monteiro, and the work of Tarsila do Amaral, one of Brazil’s best-loved modernists. The exhibition also includes an homage to the first exhibition of modern Brazilian art in the UK, which took place at the Royal Academy in 1944; seven works from that show are on display here.

Find out more from the Royal Academy’s website.
Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary

Portrait of Oswald (1925), Anita Malfatti. Collection of Hecilda and Sérgio Fadel. Photo: Jaime Acioli; © Anita Malfatti

Banana Plantation (1927), Lasar Segall. Collection of the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo. Photo: Isabella Matheus; © Lasar Segall

Lake (1928), Tarsila do Amaral. Collection of Hecilda and Sérgio Fadel. Photo: Jaime Acioli; © Tarsila do Amaral S/A

Flying a Kite (1950), Djanira. Banco Itaú Collection. Photo: Humberto Pimentel/Itaú Cultural; © Instituto Pintora Djanira