Abstract

Tarsila do Amaral (1886-1973), the Brazilian avant-garde painter is virtually unknown outside her own country. It is well known that in Latin America most fame in the word of art in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century was attributed to men. Women's sphere in art was limited to their domestic space (Hahner 2012, 89). To fill this void, we explore Tarsila do Amaral’s extraordinary art in the context of her creation of an authentic Brazilian identity that included themes of native subjects. The artist played a major role in creating Brazilian Modernism by combining elements of black, indigenous and European influences. In Paris in 1923 Tarsila wrote "I feel more and more Brazilian; I want to be a painter of my own country." Tarsila do Amaral’s contributions to Brazilian art cannot be overlooked as she also confronted her society with a new system of values. Our analysis of "the new" Brazilian art includes her three most relevant paintings: A Negra (A Negro Woman) from 1923, Abaporu (1928) and Anthropophagy (1929) that in our view, are representative of the artist vision of the new Brazilian reality. The current study is an introduction to Tarsila’s life and her art.