Violinists, dancers, painters: women and the Week of 22

THE week of 22 was an event mostly made up of men, as well as the Modernism in a general way. A reflection of the society of an era – but not very different from what happens today, 100 years later.

In February 1922, at the Theatro Municipal de São Paulo, avant-garde art gained prominence through the works of a generation that sought the new and broke with tradition. There were writers, visual and plastic artists, musicians and dancers.

Without getting any repercussion or press coverage at the time, the exhibition was revisited, analyzed and revered decades later, at different times, highlighting modernists who were there, such as Oswald de Andrade, Mario de AndradeMenotti Del Picchia, Victor Brecheret, Heitor Villa-LobosSérgio Milliet, Guilherme de Almeida, Di Cavalcanti and Anita Malfatti, among others.

Among this group formed largely by men, Anita Malfatti is the female artist who had the most visibility as a participant in the Week. An important figure for the movement, Anita was not the only one. Even in smaller numbers compared to men, other women were also part of the historic event.

“Women had very little space”, says Regina Teixeira de Barros, PhD in Aesthetics and History of Art from USP, in an interview with CNN.

They, however, had a strong presence. “Despite the well-known photo of sixteen men, with Oswald de Andrade sitting on the floor in front, the success of the Week depended above all on the presence of three women, the pianists Guiomar Novaes and Lucília Villa-Lobos and the painter Anita Malfatti”, writes Kenneth David Jackson, professor of Portuguese-Brazilian literature at Yale University, in his essay “As Molduras do Modernismo”, which is part of the book “Modernismos: 1922-2022”, released by Companhia das Letras. With 29 texts, by different authors, the book is organized by Gênese Andrade, with consultancy from Jorge Schwartz.

In addition to them, violinist Paulina d’Ambrósio and dancer Yvonne Daumerie also played on the Municipal stage. However, there was no participation of writers in the event. Why? “They approached important, daring themes, but did not use modernist language,” explains Gênese Andrade, a specialist in Modernism and Oswald de Andrade, to the CNN.

In the book, Maria de Lourdes Eleutério, PhD in Sociology from USP, delves into the topic in the essay “They were very modern”. “They were writing and they were women ahead of their time in the sense that, at that time, being a writer was not very well regarded,” continues Gênese.

Take the opportunity to listen to the episode “Modernist Women”, from CNN’s podcast series about the Week of Modern Art of 1922:

Among the painters, in addition to Anita Malfatti, Regina Teixeira de Barros remembers Zina Aita and Regina Gomide Graz in her essay “As Mulheres na Semana de 22 e Pós”, also present in the book.

The painter, ceramist and draughtsman Zina Aita was born in Belo Horizonte and graduated in Florence, Italy, where he stayed between 1914 and 1918.

“Right now, there is a movement both in Switzerland and in Italy – I think in Europe in general – of modernization, of a new society. And this movement of renovation happens a lot through what we would call decoration today, both in restaurant panels, in cinema facades, from the most public thing to a more domestic situation”, says Regina, who is a specialist in modern art. “Zina studied in Florence with a professor who is one of the popes of this renovation.”

Back in Brazil, in 1920, she exhibited in Belo Horizonte and then in Rio, where a small group of intellectuals interested in the modernization of languages ​​saw her exhibition and invited her to the event in São Paulo, explains Regina.

“We have very little reference to what she would have shown. We know very few of her pieces, very few paintings, some ink, some drawing,” she says. “We know that she kept in touch with Anita Malfatti, went to Naples to visit her and then they became close, but we don’t know her production. So it’s very difficult to talk beyond that one or two paintings that we know. But she certainly must have been an interesting woman, because if she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have been invited by Cariocas to participate in the Week.”

About the painter and decorator Regina Gomidemarried to the Swiss John Graz, Regina Teixeira de Barros says that her participation in the Semana de 22 is not something certain. Her name is not included in the exhibition catalog and, as the press did not cover the event, it is not possible to confirm the information in reports. However, there is an important clue.

“In the sketch of each artist’s location in the lobby, made in 1969 by Yan de Almeida Prado at the request of the art historian Aracy Amaral, the names of Regina and her husband John Graz are located to the left of Anita, who in turn occupies a privileged place, both physically and symbolically: the main entrance to the Theater”, describes Regina in her essay.

According to her, Regina Gomide was an important figure in Modernism “and, in a way, erased or understood as a collaborator of her husband”. The artist worked with rugs and applied arts in general.

“She worked in textiles, and many times people said that the drawing was by John and that Regina did it. Maybe so, but they also had drawings of her. As if John was her head and Regina did the manual part. I think it’s quite complicated to think like that.”

Stars of Modernism

One of the stars of the Modern Art Week, Anita Malfatti has already attracted attention since her 1917 exhibition in São Paulo, considered a milestone in the history of modern art in Brazil and paving the way for the Semana de 22.

The exhibition was the target of a fierce criticism by the writer Monteiro Lobato published in the newspaper “O Estado de S. Paulo”. “The controversy with Lobato, in a way, gave Anita a lot of prominence”, comments Regina.

“Reading carefully Lobato’s review, you can see that he says that Anita is a very talented person, that she is lost because she fell into those ‘isms’ that he hated. Then he sticks with Modernism in general. But if he didn’t recognize in her a great painter, he wouldn’t bother to write. He recognizes in her a great strength. He even compares – several compare – her painting to a ‘male painting’. It’s not a delicate painting, it’s very blunt”, she adds. A type of adjective, by the way, that today is considered sexist.

At the time, Oswald de Andrade came to Anita’s defense. Mário de Andrade became one of his work admirers. Mário and Anita became friends, but he did not spare criticism of the artist after she traveled to Paris, in 1923, and was influenced by what her contemporaries were doing there at that time: a modern painting, but looking much more at the tradition. .

Mário wanted her to continue producing works along the lines of the painting “O Homem Amarelo”, which was part of the 1917 exhibition and also the Semana de 22.

“What the modernists ended up doing was using Anita as a banner, as if she were a martyr to Modernism. Mario often wrote about her as a martyr. The idea of ​​a fragile woman that he dared, that crossed the line. So, the change in her painting, the fact that they don’t understand the new moments in Anita’s painting, make her serve this role of pioneer and martyr very well”, says Regina.

Anita also played an important role in the bridge she made between Tarsila do Amaral, with whom she was close, and the modernists. During the Week of 22, Tarsila was not in Brazil. “Tarsila was and still is a fundamental figure for this Modernism”, observes Regina, about the author of emblematic works such as “Abaporu” and “Operários”.

“But I think she achieves this a lot thanks to her and Oswald’s contact (they were both married) with Blaise Cendrars, a French-Swiss poet who showed both Oswald and Tarsila and Mário himself what is Brazil: looking at the people, the city, the poster, everyday themes. To make poetry with everyday themes, to paint everyday themes.”

The writer and journalist Patrícia Galvão, alias Pagu, also did not participate in the Semana de 22 – even because, at the time, she was only 12 years old –, but she left her mark on Brazilian Modernism. More specifically in the second phase of the movement.

“In 1929, she published drawings in the ‘Revista de Antropofagia’ and, in 1933, the novel ‘Industrial Park’. Afterwards, she left for militancy (in the Communist Party) and only published again in the 1940s, but, at the time, she was no longer with Oswald de Andrade (who separated from Tarsila to be with her). She was with Geraldo Ferraz”, comments Gênese Andrade.

Decades have passed, and the modernists continue to influence. Singer and songwriter Adriana Calcanhotto remembers how “First Notebook of Poetry Student Oswald de Andrade” impacted her. “I chose the book in the Círculo do Livro magazine, not knowing what it was about. He arrived with about four or five others, he had no special expectations. It was a discovery only comparable to what caused me ‘The woman who killed the fish’, by Clarice Lispector when I was seven years old”, she tells CNN.

In 1987, Adriana premiered the show “A Mulher do Pau Brasil”, in Porto Alegre, under the influence of Oswald de Andrade’s “Manifesto da Poesia Pau-Brasil”, “O Rei da Vela”, tropicalismo – the presentation was rescued by it and recently gained a new version.

Of modernist women, Tarsila do Amaral is one of her influences to this day. Adriana says that she discovered the artist from Oswald’s book, fell in love with her work and began to read all about her.

“She continues to influence me, yes. It is inspiration in the sense of reinventing oneself and art itself. There are many criticisms of her, one compares the paintings ‘A Negra’ and her self-portrait. I think that the self-portrait is a much inferior canvas to ‘A Negra’ in terms of modernism, as a painting, as a work of art. I respect the argument of black women who see themselves portrayed in an animalistic way on screen”, analyzes the composer.

“The good thing about celebrating the centenary is being able to discuss the idea of ​​national identity and review the silences. Only now, when black and indigenous artists are no longer raw material and have become artistic voices, do I think we can try to talk about the nation. I find it incredible the devouring of modernism that indigenous artists did and are doing.”