Tarsila do Amaral was an influential Brazilian painter in the 20th century. She came from a wealthy Paulista family, owners of a farm in São Paulo countryside. During a time where Brazil was pre-industrial, purely agricultural economy and in the end of the African slavery. Her family relevant status gave her privileges, such as access to high quality education in the Paulista capital and later in Spain. She grew up during the Second Reign (1840-1889) and First Brazilian Republic (1889-1930), her upbringing was based upon the French customs.
In 1901, when Tarsila was 16, she painted her first painting “Sagrado Coração de Jesus.” When she was 20, she married and had her daughter Dulce. The marriage lasted around eight years, as her husband did not support her artistic ambition. Again her privileged background and family influence allowed her to annul the marriage. Divorce became legal in Brazil in 1977, and divorced women were stigmatized. Before that, marriage was until death do us part. There were ways to cheat on the system. The 'desquite', created in 1942, which was the couple’s separation and sharing of goods, but they could not marry again.
Tarsila studied clay sculpture in the workshop of the Swedish sculptor William Zagid (1884-1952), who lived in the capital of São Paulo. In 1918, she was dedicated to the visual arts and studied drawings and paintings alongside Pedro Alexandrino (1856-1942), another Brazilian painter. Around this time, she met Anita Malfatti (1889-1964), a reputed modernist painter. In the Roaring Twenties, she lived in Paris, studying visual arts, including sculptures and paintings. She was part of the Académie Julien and had lectures with none other than Emile Renard (1850-1930). In the City of Light, she coexisted with many vanguard artists from the beginning of the 20th Century.
In 1922, Tarsila returned to Brazil. She did not participate of Modern Art Week. This was a European-based artistic movement that aimed to explore Brazilianness and value Brazil as the crib of cultural inspiration. However, Anita Malfatti made her a member of the “Group of Five”, a group of influential painters and writers associated with Brazilian Modernism. Anita Malfatti, Mário de Andrade (1893-1945), Menotti de Picchia(1892-1988), Oswald de Andrade e Tarsila do Amaral.
Tarsila’s privileges allowed her to broaden her horizons with a range of influences. That is reflected in her work which is divided into phases:
“Pau-Brasil” from 1924 to 1928, the name is after the Brazilian valued commodity from the 16th Century; this was when her paintings had colours from the countryside, mixing Brazilian rural life with the urban, their shapes and colours, and modern urbanity thematic. Also, she used techniques and themes from Cubism, an avant-garde art movement that discovered the true essence of a subject rather than a surface-level perspective and relied upon geometrical shapes.
In “Antropofágica” from 1928 to 1930, she used strong colours and imaginary themes. Her paintings were based on her dreams, childhood memories and real objects transformed into imaginary animals or other diverse shapes. She aimed to exalt Brazilian elements, like her culture and identity, and drank from foreign sources.
Tarsila made an exposition in Moscow in 1931. After that trip, she participated in Brazilian Communist Party meetings. However, the red scare and anti-communism ideology made her arrested. This is the reason why she did not want to become involved in politics. However, this started her “Social” phase where she became politically engaged with the causes of the proletariat in Brazil and the world. Then, many of her paintings became socially oriented about the population, labour and children.
One of Tarsila's most famous paintings is “Abaporu”. The painting was originally a birthday gift to her husband at the time, the poet Oswald de Andrade (1890-1954), in 1928. Its name comes from the South American indigenous tribe Tupi-Guarani; it means “men that eat people” (cannibal or anthropophagic). The artist once mentioned that the painting was an image from her unconscious and was related to the stories she heard from Black women in her childhood.
Tarsila drinks from multiple sources to produce her art which also reflects Brazil's richness, unknown and undervalued sadly. It is a continental country formed of smaller ones with the most diverse groups of people.
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 affected her prestige family. Her father lost a lot of money, and his farm became mortgaged. She separated from Oswald de Andrade and married two more times to the psychiatric Osório César (1895-1979) and the writer Luís Martins (1907-1981). After her second separation, she had her first individual exposition. She worked as a columnist in "Diários Associados" until the 1950s. She participated in the first São Paulo Art Biennial in 1951 and the 1964 Venice Biennale.
Sadly, Tarsila died on January 17th 1973. Her art made history. Sadly, she is not honoured enough. She had a special room at the 1963 São Paulo Art Biennial. The doctor and curator Aracy Amaral organized the exposition, ‘Tarsila 50 years of painting.' Tarsila had an exposition in Museum of Art of São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand in 2019 and was honoured at the 2022 Brazil Vogue Ball. Her paintings are constantly auctioned, others can be found in museums in France, Russia and Argentina.
Tarsila do Amaral was a woman ahead of her time. She embraced the bumpkin prejudices; many intellectuals disdained the colours from her countryside origins. This became one of her trademarks with the rural and urban Brazilian landscapes, fauna, flora, folklore and people. Her work helped future Brazilian artists value where they are from and its aesthetics. Besides that, it is worthwhile to highlight her achievements as an influential woman in the pre-feminist era. Above all, she paved the way for other women painters in the following years, especially in Brazil and Latin America. Besides that, she was a separated woman, with extreme relevance to the country’s culture and history.
The Brazilian Suffragettes movement was in 1932. In 1934, the constitution was against the difference in salary in the same job regarding their sex. It prohibited women’s work in unhealthy industries. There was medical and sanitary assistance to the pregnant, and they were allowed to rest before and after the labour through social security. In 1962, married women did not need their husband’s permission to work. Women had the right to inheritance and the chance to ask for their children’s custody in case of separation. Last but not least, women had access to contraceptive pills. It brought autonomy to women, and it started a relevant discussion about reproductive rights and female sexual deliberation. Important to highlight this was not the bed of roses as it might suggest, as women from the unprivileged social minority groups did not have access to any of these.
In January 2024, the life of the Brazilian painter and muse featured in this article comes to life in the stage play adaptation "Tarsila, A Brasileira" (Tarsila, the Brazilian), set to be released on the 25th. Renowned Brazilian actress Cláudia Raia, a prominent name in the world of performance arts and a devoted advocate for women and culture, takes on the role of portraying Tarsila do Amaral.
This highly anticipated production promises to offer audiences an immersive experience into the world of Tarsila do Amaral, highlighting the artistic journey and cultural impact of this influential painter. Plus, the inspiring background she was set in.
Mark your calendars for January 25th, as "Tarsila, A Brasileira" unfolds on the stage, showcasing the captivating intersection of art, culture, and the indomitable spirit of a pioneering artist.
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