Page 109 - ARTE!Brasileiros #40

him or were influenced by his original and heterodox thinking. his (Trotskyist) socialist militancy or his belief in the political and
The man from Pernambuco was not only a critic and a journalist, social role of art.
but also an encouraging force for artistic movements, a militant of “Pedrosa devoted his efforts in formulating ideas on the social
left-wing parties, a director and administrator of institutions and function of art throughout his intellectual production,” clarifies
biennials, a professor and, not least important, a close friend of Sommer. “Pedrosa holds a libertarian social aspiration that
some of the most relevant Brazilian artists of the last century. And aspires to a revolution of sensibility for the revolution of men,
the aspects that involve friendship, sensitivity and subjectivity are in an experimental, open way, structured from the fluidity of
precisely some of the main axes of the exhibition Mário Pedrosa: communicating vessels between art and politics, connected to a
Da Natureza Afetiva da Forma [Mário Pedrosa: On the Affective plural future,” he says.
Nature of Form], as the title itself indicates.
“I understand that the structural center of Pedrosa’s thinking is VIRGIN ART AND BIENNIALS
‘mobilization by affection,’ which connects theory and practice in The critic’s sensitivity and openness also led to his interest in
the exercise of his artistic and political activities from the 1930s the art produced by the so-called “mentally ill,” from the time
to the 1980s,” clarifies Michelle Sommer, who signs the show’s he got in touch with Dr. Nise da Silveira and with the patients at
curatorship with Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro (curator of the following the psychiatric hospital of Engenho de Dentro, in Rio de Janeiro.
São Paulo Biennial). “It is important to note that his critical practice Pedrosa was fascinated by what he called “virgin art” produced
also takes place on a domestic scale of rapprochement with artists by such artists as Raphael Domingues and Emygdio De Barros
and intellectuals, a gesture of literally opening the doors of his (featured at the Madrid show) and helped organize exhibitions
house for meetings and exchanges,” adds Sommer, pointing out with his works at important museums such as the Museum of
that Pedrosa’s critical production “was based, eminently, on Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (MAM-RJ). “He defended, against
reactions provoked by immediate seen-lived experiences.” unfavorable criticism, the work of patients as an integral part of
From this perception came the idea of setting up the exhibition the Brazilian artistic production,” says Sommer.
about the critic without exposing an excess of newspapers, Still during the 1950s, the critic played a crucial role in organizing
magazines, books, photos or personal objects, but rather works and curating the São Paulo Biennials, especially in the second and
of art by other authors. “The question ‘how to make an exhibition third editions (1953 and 1955). He was responsible for bringing to
based on criticism?’ accompanied us through almost four years Brazil works by Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, Alexander Calder, Edvard
of research, “explains Sommer.” Faced with the virtual absence of Munch, Marcel Duchamp, Ben Nicholson, Giorgio Morandi and, most
other examples of exhibitions on critics in which we could analyze notably, Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (a painting hanging in the Reina
potentialities and limitations, our intention was to escape from Sofía only a few rooms apart from the exhibition on Pedrosa).
a documentary or illustrative exhibition, given the complexity of In the Madrid exhibition, works by Calder, Klee, Nicholson and
their contributions.” Morandi highlight Pedrosa’s work in this period, revealing his deep
interest not only in the Brazilian production, but also in the avant-
EARLY YEARS AND CONCRETISM garde of many different countries. In Klee, the critic observed a
The works in the show are divided into rooms designed from “cores work of reconciliation between the Central-European spirit and the
of thought” and cover the main periods of activity by Pedrosa. Eastern one. On the Italian Morandi (1890–1964) in turn, Pedrosa
Referring to his early criticisms and connections (1930s and early considered him the most political artist in his generation, because
1940s), works by the German Käthe Kollwitz share the space of his refusal in participating in the fascist art and becoming a
with works by the Brazilians Candido Portinari and Di Cavalcanti, weapon for propaganda. “None of his contemporaries were as
artists who were reviewed by the writer from a classical Marxist brave as himself in breaking with the entire pictorial tradition of
perspective and in which he saw a similar type of criticism to his country,” he wrote.
capitalism and to the exploitation of the working classes.
It is mainly after the end of World War II (1939–1945) that Pedrosa PLURALITY OF LANGUAGES
distances himself from social realism—just as he becomes more The other rooms of the Reina Sofía Museum show further explore
critical of the Soviet realism—and becomes more conscious of the other themes that Pedrosa kept close to his heart over the decades.
blooming abstract and concrete production of the time in Brazil, in The illustrator and cartoonist Millôr Fernandes stands out with
the Neoconcretist movement of the late 1950s. In the exhibition, his own room, revealing Pedrosa’s interest in productions at
works by Amilcar de Castro, Cicero Dias, Waldemar Cordeiro, Lygia times considered less prominent in the art world. In addition to
Clark, Lygia Pape and Hélio Oiticica, among others, provide the having a professional affinity with Millôr, since both spent their
dimension of the importance that these artists had for Pedrosa. lives in editorial offices of newspapers and magazines, the critic
Also from this period, more specifically from 1949, is the critic’s admired the draftsman’s intelligent humor and criticism to the
doctorate thesis—which gives the show its title—Da Natureza Brazilian politics.
Afetiva da Forma [On the Affective Nature of Form], in which he Pedrosa’s look on Millôr’s work also reveals the plurality and
relates the geometric abstraction with issues of perception and diversity of the writer’s thinking, a feature highlighted in the Madrid
visual psychology. “I think this introduction of the subjective, exhibition, which gives equal treatment to lesser known artists,
the affective and the emotional to think of a language that can designers or painters, photographers or engravers, sculptors
be completely rational in appearance is what opens the doors to or filmmakers. “We thought it was important to present all the
Neoconcretism,” says Perez-Barreiro. cores present on the show horizontally, without attributing more
Pedrosa argued that art is a vital necessity, “something that will significance to any of them individually,” explains Barreiro. This
always exist in a communist, capitalist or autocratic society,” says is because, according to Sommer, “there lies in Pedrosa a gesture
Barreiro. With his multiple vision, the author detaches himself of pluralistic generosity towards and open-minded thinking that
from the predominant speech among left-wing critics, who linked is averse to categorization.”
artistic production more strongly to the economic structure. It is In this line of plurality, the exhibition features a room dedicated to
also after the War, according to the curator, “that he developed a the engravings of Oswaldo Goeldi and Lívio Abramo. To Pedrosa, in
clearer view that art cannot be pamphletary, that it has to speak works that portrayed marginal areas of the cities, with few colors
its own language.” This did not mean, however, a departure from and characters, the artists created an original language, with a

Book_ARTE 40_Bilingue.indb 109 9/21/2017 3:58:14 PM