Tarsila do Amaral: Inventing Modern Art in Brazil

Tarsila do Amaral (Brazilian, 1886-1973) is a fundamental figure in the history of modernism in Latin America. Next year, from February 11 to June 3, MoMA in New York will hold the first exhibition in the United States dedicated exclusively to the artist. The exhibition focuses on her pivotal production from the 1920s, from her early Parisian works to the emblematic modernist paintings produced in Brazil, culminating with her large-scale and socially engaged works from the early 1930s. The exhibition features over 130 works of art, including paintings, drawings, sketchbooks, photographs, and other historical documents from collections in Latin America, Europe, and the United States.Born in São Paulo at the turn of the 19th century, Tarsila – as she is affectionately known in Brazil – studied piano, sculpture, and drawing before heading to Paris in 1920 to attend the Académie Julian. During subsequent stays in Paris, she studied with André Lhote, Albert Gleizes, and Fernand Léger, fulfilling what she called her “military service in Cubism,” ultimately arriving at her characteristic pictorial style of synthetic lines and sensual volumes that depict landscapes and vernacular scenes in a rich color palette. The exhibition follows her travels between France and Brazil, passing through Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, tracing her involvement with an increasingly international artistic community, and her role in the emergence of modernism in Brazil; in 1928, Tarsila painted Abaporu, which quickly generated the Anthropophagic Manifesto and became the banner for this transformative artistic movement that sought to digest external influences and produce art for and from Brazil itself. The exhibition is organized by Luis Pérez-Oramas, former Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and Stephanie D’Alessandro, former Gary C. and Frances Comer Curator of International Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago; with Karen Grimson, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art. Major support for the presentation in New York is provided by The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art. For more information, visit: http://press.moma.org/2017/07/tarsila-do-amaral/