Tarsila do Amaral: Inventing Modern Art in Brazil

6 / 11

Tarsila do Amaral. _Anthropophagy (Antropofagia)_, 1929. Oil on canvas, 49 5/8 x 55 15/16 in. (126 x 142 cm). Acervo da Fundação Jose e Paulina Nemirovsky, em comodato com a Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo. © Tarsila do Amaral Licenciamentos.

Tarsila do Amaral. Anthropophagy. 1929

Tarsila do Amaral. Anthropophagy (Antropofagia),1929. Oil on canvas, 49 5/8 x 55 15/16 in. (126 x 142 cm). Acervo da Fundação Jose e Paulina Nemirovsky, em comodato com a Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo. © Tarsila do Amaral Licenciamentos.

Curator, Luis Perez-Oramas: In this large painting, Tarsila really stresses the exuberance of Brazilian tropical landscape. The representation of local natural species such as cactus and banana trees here are given as abstract forms.

You may recognize in this painting the monumental figure of A Negra paired with the figure from Abaporu. She’s brought these together in order to produce the third major painting.

Tarsila pushed the boundaries of Brazilian modern art with paintings like this. By ingesting and transforming sources, first from Europe and then from the culture of her own country, she made a radical statement unlike any Brazil had experienced before.