Brazilian Artist Tarsila do Amaral: Inventing Modern Art in Brazil at the MoMA

The exhibit at the MoMA featuring Tarsila do Amaral (b Brazil 1886-1973) is an extensive and exhilarating show of a talented painter whose rich colors & mystical imagery established herself as one the most influential & popular artists in her country. But her work is not well established outside her native Brazil.  She was a leading postwar modernist artist & prevailing nationalistic voice.  Her oil paintings from the 1920s reflect a Cubist influence and a Picasso quintessence.  The misshappen disproportionate women figures with exaggerated bodies; limbs, breast and diminutive heads resemble Picasso's female subjects.  The arresting painting "A Negra" (1923) is a powerful portrait of a distorted female nude forms similar aesthetics to Picasso & Leger.  But Tarsila is making a loud statement about human dignity.  The full-lipped face, engorged breast & direct stare confront the viewer unabashedly.  "A Negra" addresses the abolition of slavery in the late 19th C.  As in Amer. the  oppressive social impingements were yet to be resolved.  This is a striking portraiture with political potency.  Her oil painting of a lone black bull with elongated antlers seems an homage to Picasso.  There are numerous works representing the progressive industrial movement in terms of architecture & transportation with the promise a growing & robust society.  For example, "The Railway Station" is a harbinger for advancing technology & expansion.  The architectural paintings have echoing motifs of geometric shapes.  There are paintings of a thriving metropolis but still with a feeling of abandonment & solitude.  In addition, there are utopian landscapes with lush green landscapes, red & amber sunsets and cerulean waters & sky.  There is a mystical or mythology aesthetic to these colorful pleasing paintings absent of people but containing fantastical creatures.  The jewel toned palette used in the 20s & 30s combine shades of emerald green, vibrant azure, crimson amber & lush lavenders.  The colors have an appealing & magical aura.  My favorite painting was the stunning still life "Manca"; a sturdy floral plant used by the indigenous population for medicinal & ritualistic purposes.  The manca is strong, elegant and appears both tropical & mystical.  I was struck by the ominous painting "Urutu".  A slithering purple viper appears to be wrapping itself around a tongue protruding from a mouth in the earth & poised to strike an oversized egg.  The last painting in the exhibit contains numerous faces of mixed races, ethnicities and gender.  All appear to have glazed somber expressions.  The bodiless faces are stacked atop one another in a mounting pyramid.   Tarsila's multi-portraiture painting depicts a growing hierarchy of authoritarian govt. & social ills that are overtaking Brazil beginning in the 1930s.  More paintings by this remarkable artist from her socialist realism epoch were sadly absent from this captivating show.