In the winter of 1944, over the course of three weeks, the Royal Academy of Arts hosted the Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings in its grand, neoclassical Main Galleries. The show's title is somewhat misleading as it was, in effect, two distinct exhibitions rolled into one: the first, the Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings , comprised 80 paintings and 86 works on paper displayed in two galleries; and the second, Brazil Builds , contained 192 photographs and occupied a single gallery. Between 1947 and 1948, both the Museu de Arte Moderna de Sã o Paulo (MAM-SP)and the Museu de Arte de Sã o Paulo (MASP) opened, as well as the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM-RJ), and an art critic referred to these initiatives as an indication of the Brazilian desire to communicate with its own artists as well as associating with those international centres of artistic expression . Not long afterwards, in 1951, Brazil inaugurated the Bienal Internacional de Sã o Paulo: the first biannual exhibition anywhere in the world after Venice, and a demonstration of the value Brazil placed on art and culture at that time, emphasizing its determination to be part of the emerging post-war international art circuit. The Semana de Arte Moderna (Modern Art Week) in 1922 is seen as the initiating event in the development of a Brazilian modernism, which gave rise to a first generation of artists, including Anita Malfatti (1889- 1964) and Vicente do Rego Monteiro (1899- 1970). The genuinely Brazilian aspect of this modernism, as postulated by the writer Oswald de Andrade, would be the role of national identity . In a manifesto, he called for foreign European culture to be devoured, digested and, through its transformation, used to forge a Brazilian art in its own right. This included, in his view, also the devouring of indigenous and Afro-Brazilian cultures. The two artists mentioned above and additional protagonists, such as Lasar Segall (1891- 1957) and Tarsila do Amaral (1886- 1973), are today considered to maintain a certain social distance from Indigenous visual language and Afro-Brazilian rituals, which was eventually overcome by a second generation around Djanira da Motta e Silva (1914- 1979) and Rubem Valentim (1922- 1991). Now, all of these artists and their works are causing quite a stir in exhibitions such as Foreigners Everywhere at the 60th Venice Biennale (curated by Adriano Pedrosa), as a very unique visual language emerged in the works once the formalist conquest by European modernism had been digested . There has been strong international interest for some time now in the concept of global modernism, and academic parallels to the challenges of European modernism are addressed just as much as the political, social, and cultural differences. Brasil! Brasil! - The Dawn of Modernity presents in the exhibition and with this comprehensive publication the various ways in which Brazilian artists have developed their distinct modern visual language and, based on the presentation of ten positions, simultaneously provides an introduction to formative political, social, and economic circumstances; key stages in literature, music, design, and architecture have also been addressed. An initial opportunity for intercultural exchange presented itself to the Zentrum Paul Klee in 2019 with the exhibition Paul Klee - Unstable Balance , curated by Fabienne Eggelhö fer, which was received with great interest by the Brazilian public on its tour from Saõ Paulo via Rio de Janeiro to Belo Horizonte.
He is professor of Brazilian Studies (literature, culture, media) at the Seminar of Romance Studies of the University of Zurich. He is the author of numerous books about aspects of Brazilian art and culture, among others about Oswald de Andrade, Horaldo de Campos and Solange Pessoa. Gê nese Andrade: She holds a PhD in Spanish-American Literature from USP and a post-doctorate in Comparative Literature from Unicamp. A professor at Faap, researcher and translator, she is the author of Pagu/Oswald/Segall (2009), Vicente do Rego Monteiro (2013) and Artistic Vanguards in Brazil, 1917- 1967 (Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History, 2019) and organizer of Oswald de Andrade, Feira das Sextas (2004) and Correspondê ncia Má rio de Andrade & Oswald de Andrade (in press). She is the editorial coordinator, with Jorge Schwartz, of the current edition of Oswald de Andrade. Curator in Visual Arts, Critic and Art Historian, she has a degree in Art Education from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Sã o Paulo (1983), a Master's degree in Arts (1989) and a PhD in Art History (1999), both from the University of Sã o Paulo (USP). She has worked as Technical Director of the Pinacoteca do Estado de Sã o Paulo and the Sã o Paulo Museum of Modern Art (MAM), and currently directs the José and Paulina Nemirovsky Foundation. Since 2021 he is the Chief Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts for which he is now curator since 23 years. He made his BA with Latin American Studies at University of Essex and is highly experienced with a PhD in Art History from the same University. With a demonstrated history of working across museum and institutions Adrian Locke has published on diverse subjects. He was also a juror of Junior Bermuda Biennial 2024. Recently he wrote about Ai Weiwei and others. She studied art history, Romance studies and media studies in Bordeaux, Gö ttingen, Mü nster and Hamburg. In 2001, she completed her doctorate at the University of Gö ttingen with a thesis on artists' collectives around 1960. From April 2001 to August 2002, she was a scholarship holder of the state of Lower Saxony at the Central Institute for Art History (ZI) in Munich. She then completed a traineeship at the Kunsthalle Hamburg. From 2006, Zimmer was curator for 19th century and classical modern art at the Kunstmuseum Basel and was deputy director for two years. PhD in Visual Arts (ECA USP). Post-doctorate in Visual Arts (UNESP). Professor at CELACC (ECA USP). Researcher at the Mario Schenberg Center for Documentation and Research in the Arts (ECA USP). Member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). Author of the books Schenberg: Crí tica e Criaç ã o (EDUSP, 2011) and Memó ria da Resistê ncia (MCSP, 2022). Architect, architectural critic, writer and professor. He is known for his work at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, and culture, as well as for his academic work, critical writings, and contributions to cultural and artistic debate. Wisnik has been a professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Sã o Paulo (FAUUSP) and is the author of numerous books and articles on architecture and urbanism in Brazil. In addition to his academic and professional work, Wisnik is known for his cultural activism and involvement in the Brazilian art scene. Carlos Gonç alves Machado Neto, or simply Cacá Machado (Sã o Paulo, 1972) is a Brazilian popular music singer, songwriter, instrumentalist and guitarist. He is also a historian and music producer. From 2003 to 2010, he was an undergraduate and postgraduate professor at the School of Communication and Arts at Anhembi Morumbi University in Sã o Paulo. He was Director of the Music Center at FUNARTE (National Arts Foundation), of the Brazilian Ministry of Culture, between 2008 and 2010 and also Director of the Music Study Center at the Ibirapuera Auditorium in Sã o Paulo in 2010 and 2011. Fabienne Eggelhö fer: In 2017 Fabienne Eggelhoefer has been appointed chief curator
