The Criticism of Frederico Morais and the “Semana de 22”: Mário de Andrade, Bernardelli Group, Rio de Janeiro and Desire for a Historical Revision of Modernism in Brazil

Abstract

This article analyzes the transformations in the production of the Brazilian critic Frederico Morais (Belo Horizonte, 1936) from the beginning of the 1980s, when his positions on the paths that Brazilian art should take became gradually less incisive and the tone of his texts more conciliatory. A more palatable discourse, in comparison with the combative 1960s and 1970s, when he advocated for an avant-garde art in the country. This happens simultaneously with the dynamics of his incorporation by the Brazilian art system, that is, an institutionalization of his work. He then begans to work with the galleries Acervo and Banerj, in addition to writing and editing books and catalogs for companies such as Sul América, Banco Sudameris, auctions Soraia Cals and Instituto Itaú Cultural. In these publications, Morais began to promote a systematic revision of the “Semana de 22”, in favor of a modernism that, according to Morais, would have been consolidated from the Bernardelli Group, in Rio de Janeiro.

Keywords:
Brazilian Art; Semana de 22; Bernardelli Group; Brazilian Modernism; Brazilian Avant-garde