Painting Brazilian Identity
By Anna Niederlander
Anita Malfatti is often referred to as the ‘instigator of Brazilian modernism,’ however her name rarely comes up in Latin American art. Three works from different stages in her life will be analyzed in order to show her transition as an artist. Malfatti was born in Sao Paulo on December second, 1889. Her father was an Italian railroad engineer and her mother was a German American woman. In 1910, Malfatti travelled to Germany, where she studied with Lovis Corinth, whose mature works represent a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism, an interest which is also seen some of Malfatti’s works. In Germany, Malfatti also visited many shows, amongst them the Armory Show in Cologne in 1912, which exposed her to numerous German Expressionist artworks. Three years later, Malfatti began her studies at the Art Student League in New York, where in the summer she was taught by the American painter Homer Dean Boss. Malfatti remembered this fruitful time in her artistic formation as "the greatest period of her life.”
Anita Malfatti,Rhythm (Torso) (1915-16), charcoal and pastel on paper
Homer Dean Boss is an American painter whose artwork largely focuses on anatomy and an understanding of the muscular human body. His impact on Malfatti can be seen in her painting Rhythm (Torso) (1915-16). In Rhythm (Torso), Malfatti used charcoal and pastel on paper todepict a confident male gymnast. While in New York, she was also introduced to the cubist movement. Thus, Malfatti brought together multiple influences – the expressionist characteristics she had learnt about in Germany, the Cubist influences she was exposed to in New York, and finally the aspects of her own unique background. Malfatti’s style represents a synthesis of these different influences. This is made visible in Rhythm (Torso), where the naturalistic style of the Brazilian academy is abandoned in favour of a cruder outline of a figure. An abstract background is constructed using blue and red lines, reflecting the contours of the gymnast’s body. These lines frame his body, which becomes the primal focus of this work. At the same time, the lines make it seem as though he is expanding, further exaggerating his muscular physique. The man’s posture is informal, and his head and legs are cut off by the frame, creating an unconventional composition. The use of charcoal and pastel paints as the medium create a coarse texture, while Malfatti’s rapid lines further contribute to a sense of dynamism and movement. Expressive colours and lines are combined with a more geometrical body, revealing her Cubist influences. Malfatti chose not to include this work in a public exhibition at the end of 1917, in Sao Paulo.
Malfatti’s studies in Germany and the US introduced her to the modern art world, which was still dormant in São Paulo, and gave her the global perspective which she would bring back to Brazil. However, her 1917 exhibition, in which she revealed what she had learned abroad, became the subject of controversy. Even though she chose to exhibit relatively conservative works, Malfatti’s art was heavily criticized for not being “Brazilian” enough. Exhibiting such stylistically radical paintings, as a woman, was not seen to match up with the ‘proper feminine manner’ at the time. Many art historians have argued that it was the negative critical reception of her 1917 show which hindered her from further progressing her style. As Lucie-Smith noted, "her later paintings are a step backwards, naïve and cheerfully folkloristic."
Anita Malfatti,Mario de Andrade(1922), oil on canvas
Malfatti became deeply depressed after the 1917 show, turning to a more conservative style and traditional subjects, including rural woman in the Brazilian countryside. However, she was left unsatisfied by these works, and ultimately decided to return back to a more modernist style, even though she knew these changes to her work would be condemned. Malfatti once wrote, “I’m returning to very modern things, because these are the kinds of things that fill my soul with happiness.” In February 1922, the Municipal Theatre of Sao Paulo held the Semana de Arte Moderna, a week of modern art, literature, and music. The event celebrated Brazil’s independence, and aimed to introduce Brazil to artistic movements occurring internationally, while at the same time highlighting the country’s culture and heritage, creating an atmosphere that communicated the real Brasilidade—a Portuguese term referring to Brazilian culture and national identity. The festival was organized by Di Cavalcanti and Mario de Andrade, who Malfatti became close friends with. Brazil’s modern art movement was closely linked to the people’s pursuit of autonomy. Thus, Malfatti proposed that, in order to create a pictorial style that was reflective of a modern Brazilian national identity, artists had to embrace their unique culture and, simultaneously, embrace modern art. Together, this could create the powerful means to form a Brazilian national identity that was so desired.
The portrait, titled Mario de Andrade (1922), depicts the Brazilian poet and art critic in a positive light. The background is composed of lines of various colours, which combine to create shapes reminiscent of the backgrounds painted by German Abstract artists like Franz Marc or Wassily Kandsinky. The shading is crude and the colours in his face and clothing are non-naturalistic. The sitter looks as though he is almost caught in a moment of surprise, as though his head has just turned and Malfatti is capturing his authentic response and likeness. In contrast to a contrived classical portrait of an academic, Malfatti gives us a vibrant portrait of one of the founders of Brazilian modernism, conveying his role as an active protagonist in this movement.
Anita Malfatti,O Samba (1945), oil on canvas
During the early 20th century, Brazilian artists often depicted native people and the rural landscape as symbols of authentic Brazilian identity. This created a very masculinist and ethnocentric point of view, where a woman’s body was often photometrically associated with fertile or uncultivated land. Several of Malfatti’s paintings seem to counter this idea, by depicting unique subjects, such as her portrait of Mario de Andrade. In 1923,Tarsila do Amaral, a second influential woman artist who participated in the movement of Brazilian modernism, said that “Painting Brazilian landscapes and caboclos doesn’t make one a Brazilian artist, just as one who paints machines realistically and distorts the human figure is not necessarily a modern artist.”
Malfatti was criticized for not producing works that were ‘Brazilian’ or ‘feminine’ enough. But, this begs the question: What exactly makes a work ‘Brazilian’? On the one hand, depicting an indigenous woman in a rural landscape runs the risk of enforcing Eurocentric notions of Brazil as an “Edenic paradise and savage wilderness.” On the other, however, depicting the modern Brazilian city scape using foreign techniques, could cause the artist to receive criticism for losing touch with their “Brazilian essence.” Malfatti struggled with this debate throughout her career, finally reaching what she considered to be a compromise. By the end of her career, in the 1940s, “she had finally resolved her life-long internal struggle between modernism and naturalism when she announced her desire to ‘pintar a sen modo’ (paint her own way).”
This is reflected in O Samba(1945), a painting which depicts a group of rural people dancing in an outdoor setting. The work is done in a ‘naïve’ style, and conveys Malfatti’s numerous interests, including the use of strong colours and Expressionist brushwork. It presents a folkloric way of life, depicted through a dynamic, contemporary, and fresh lens. As art historian Gillian Sneed concluded, “It seems to me that Anita Malfatti managed to apprehend this Brazilian climate of eternal waiting that lyrically places it between other countries that don't have more time to dream. It is a wait without desperation.”
Bibliography:
Sneed, Gillian. “Anita Malfatti and Tarsila do Amaral: Gender, ‘Brasilidade’ and the Modernist Landscape.” Woman's Art Journal, Vol. 34, No. 1 (SPRING/SUMMER 2013), pp. 30-39. Old City Publishing, Inc. Accessed 24-11-2019.
Pérez-Oramas, Luis and D'Alessandro, Stephanie. Tarsila Do Amaral: Inventing Modern Art in Brazil. Art Institute of Chicago, October 31, 2017.pp.155.
Michael Rosenthal: "Gainsborough, Thomas" Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press, July 30, 2007, http://www.groveart.com/Grove Art Online. Anita Malfatti. Accessed 24-11-2019.
Harrison, Marguerite Itamar. Anita Malfatti: The Shifting Grounds of Modernism, https://web.archive.org/web/20070821182028/http://www.brazilianist.com/0605_anita_malfatti_part1.html.Accessed 24-11-2019.