Working on the fringes of Brazilian naturalism and modernism, the panel of around fifty artists brought together in this exhibition at the Lodève museum nonetheless offers a view of Brazil. Because, if Anita Malfatti, Tarsila do Amaral or Cândido Portinari found among the European avant-gardes a resource capable of expressing the specificities of their country within a universalist concert, the art that we can call singular, popular or even naive draws on a proximity to his motives. Their authors, whose works all come from the same private collection – whose owner mysteriously wished to remain anonymous – do not in any way constitute a homogeneous group. For some, it is a matter of simply painting the lives of simple people, like Sylvia de Leon Chalreo, journalist and translator participating in the feminist blossoming of Rio de Janeiro in the 1930s, who signed “Silvia” her schematic creations – notably views of the Cariocas hills still devoid of favelas.

Extrait de l'article de Tom Laurent publié dans le N°109 de la revue Art Absolument. Parution le 11 janvier 2024.

exhibition's website