Black Art in Brazil: Expressions of Identity

Notes

N O T E S Introduction 1. Throughout this book, I have consciously chosen to frame my discussion around “black art” in Brazil rather than “Afro-Brazilian art” unless specifically referencing use of the latter term elsewhere. I elaborate on my reasons for doing so later in this chapter. 2. Négritude philosophy was developed by Francophone African and Caribbean writers and intellectuals, including Léopold Senghor, living in Paris in the 1930s. Their theory was predicated on the belief that all black Africans and their descendants were linked by a series of essential characteristics , which pervaded their emotional, physical, and intellectual existence . As President of Senegal (1960–1980), Léopold Senghor established a National Arts Curriculum based on the principles of Négritude. He implemented this cultural policy to encourage production of a specifically Senegalese “national art” in the newly independent country (Kasfir 2000, 168–172). 3. Afro-Brazilian Art and Religiosity (1993), held in Frankfurt, Germany was distinct from the later Art and Religiosity in Brazil: African Inheritances (1997), held at the Pinacoteca do Estado Museum in São Paulo. For a brief description of each see Araújo 2001, 318, 321. 4. There is, however, one prominent exception in the move from black art to Afro-Brazilian art in the interior state of Minas Gerais. Belo Horizonte’s Secretary of Culture has sponsored a Festival de Arte Negra (Festival of Black Art) biannually since 1995. The festival takes place during National Black Consciousness Week and has featured a variety of art forms. 5. Mariano Carneiro da Cunha’s essay on Afro-Brazilian art was published following his death in 1980. 6. As per Stefania Capone, the term pai de santo refers to a “ritual kinship: the initiator is the father (pai) or mother (mãe) of sons and daughters-of-saint, initiates to the gods” (2010, 267). 7. Thompson has researched Umbanda, an African-influenced religion with a significant number of white participants, in addition to Candomblé. Though he does not specifically designate the Umbanda-related artwork or 154 Notes to Pages 18–74 artists “Afro-Brazilian,” he includes this subject matter in his wider studies of Afro-Atlantic altars and the African Americas (Thompson 1993). 8. I use the terms “modern” and “contemporary” to distinguish a general timeframe and not in reference to Brazilian Modernism as a movement, which started in 1922 with the Week of Modern Art in São Paulo (Ades 1989, 132–136; Barnitz 2001, 56–57; Mesquita 1996, 202–205). Chapter 1. Race, Identity, and Cultural Literacy 1. Though these are the current categories, the terminology has changed several times since the late nineteenth century (Fiola 1990, 19–21). It is also worth noting that these census terms are weighted toward color, e.g. pardo (brown) and amarelo (yellow), rather than strictly race. 2. Art critic Clarival do Prado Valladares published a monograph on Agnaldo Manoel dos Santos in 1963, following the artist’s death in 1962 (Valladares 1963a). Similarly, though not a monograph, Pedro Paulo Leal figured prominently in Lélia Coelho Frota’s 1975 publication. In an effort to educate the public about his work and the artist as an individual, Frota conducted interviews with Leal’s family, in particular his son, Manoel Faria Leal, who was also a painter. Chapter 2. Abdias Nascimento 1. Although a terreiro can be used to refer to a group of people who belong to a particular religious community, as well as the actual physical space or structure where those people gather to practice their religion, throughout this book I use the term to refer to the people. 2. Because in the United States Nascimento encountered a greater number of individuals who spoke Spanish rather than Portuguese, especially at SUNY Buffalo’s Puerto Rican Studies and Research Center, he spoke Spanish. Alternatively, he would work with interpreters who could translate his Spanish or Portuguese into English. Chapter 3. Ronaldo Rego 1. The Mercadão or Mercado de Madureira is a popular market where both religious initiates and non-initiates can purchase religious vestments, objects, and special foods related to Umbanda and other African-influenced religions. 2. Documenta is a well-known modern and contemporary art exhibition, which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. Notes to Pages 76–136 155 3. The exception to this rule is when the deities are shown in their syncretized form with Catholic saints. Iansã, for...