Afro-Brazilians and Visual Arts

Abstract

Published in 1968, the text "Afro-Brazilians and Visual Arts" analyzes the presence of Black artists in the Brazilian visual arts from the colonial period to the 1960s. In its first part, Clarival do Prado Valladares argues that socio-economic reasons rather than racial ones limited the presence and visibility of Black artists in the Brazilian art scene. According to him, that tendency became stronger from the end of the nineteenth century, when art became a prestige characteristic of a higher socio-economic class. To reinforce his argument, Valladares emphasizes the role of Black artists in the artistic production for churches in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, before Brazilian society experienced profound changes in its ethnic complexion following the end of slavery, with resulting disadvantages for Black people. Valladares focuses on "Black art" in the text’s second part, highlighting communicability as its fundamental characteristic. Through examples, he shows how artists from different ethnic backgrounds can express African culture, while there are also Black artists who do not address blackness in their works.

Keywords:

• Afro-Brazilian art
• Black artists
• Brazilian visual arts
• slavery
• blackness
• Black art

Notes

1 Translator’s note: in his original text, Clarival do Prado Valladares emphasizes many terms using italicization and double quotation marks, an aspect of his work that was respected in this translation. Therefore, the majority of italicized or double quoted non-Portuguese words in this article represent the author’s original emphases.

2 Oscar Hurtado, Pintores cubanos (Havana, 1962), 10.

3 José Nicolás de Escalera and Vicente Escobar y Flores.

4 Marieta Alves, História das artes na cidade do Salvador (Pre. Mun. Salv., 1967), 61.

5 Hannah Levy, “A pintura colonial no Rio de Janeiro,” Rev. S. P. Hist. Art. Nac., G, (1942), 10.

6 Carlos Ott, A pintura na Bahia – 1549-1850 (Hist. das Artes na Cid. Salv., Prof. M. S., 1967), 103–5.

7 Known as Aleijadinho.

8 Carlos Del Negro, Contribuição ao estudo da pintura mineira (Rio de Janeiro: Ministério da Educação e Cultura, 1958).

9 Francisco Marques dos Santos, “Artistas do Rio de Janeiro colonial,” Est. Bras., 1.3, (Rio, 1938).

10 Manoel Araujo Pôrto, “Iconografia brasileira,” Rev. I. H. G. Br., XIX (Rio, 1856).

11 As artes plásticas no Brasil em geral e no Rio de Janeiro em particular, Rev. I. H. G. Br., LXI, (1898), 103.

12 Nair Batista,“Pintores do Rio de Janeiro colonial,” Rev. S.P.H.A.N., 1.3 (1939): 110.

13 Rio Branco Law, enacted in 1871, also known as Law of Free Birth.

14 Translator’s note: master builder.

15 The journal, Kosmos, in its edition of August 1904, published an important report into the production of African religious sculpture in Brazil, with photographic documentation. The figure of Xangô dominates but there are several others that bear a resemblance to the work of Agnaldo Manoel dos Santos.

16 Translator’s note: another generalized term for mixed-race.

17 Translator’s note: the law that abolished slavery.

18 Translator’s note: Who is Who in Brazilian Art and Writing.

19 Texts by E. Desnoes and O. Hurtado, ed. R. La Habana, (1962).

20 Priest of Afro-Brazilian religions, spiritual leader, also known as ‘father of saint’.

21 Arthur Ramos, “Arte negra no Brasil,” Cultura, MEC, 1. 2 (1949).

22 Mário Barata, “A escultura de origem negra no Brasil”, Rio de Janeiro, 1, no. 9 (1957).

23 Luís Saia, Escultura popular brasileira, Ed. Gaveta (São Paulo, 1944).

24 José Roberto Teixeira Leite, “África,” Rev. Senhor (Rio, May 1962).

25 José Valladares, “A pintura popular na Bahia,” Habitat 1, no. 6 (1952).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Clarival do Prado Valladares

Translated from Portuguese by Alban Mills and Rosane Carneiro Ramos

Originally published as “O negro brasileiro nas artes plásticas”, in Cadernos brasileiros (Rio de Janeiro, 1968).