A Tale of Masters and Islands: Volpi Claimed by Mário Pedrosa

Abstract

In the 1950s, Mário Pedro claimed Alfredo Volpi to be the greatest national painter and a master to be followed by younger artists. This was a conflict-ridden process, which put at stake the old canons of Brazilian modernism and also the way in which the history of national art was written. Following this process, we also come face-to-face with the mechanism responsible for mobilizing the presence of people, the persistence of national values and the importance of cities in the Brazilian artistic field.

2. Form and Sensibility: Discursive Discrepancies in Concrete and Neoconcrete Art

“…Pedrosa's emphasis on Volpi's progression from the craftsmanship of his profession as a painter-decorator to that of the professional artist hints at a possible reason for the concrete group's interest in the artist from Cambuci-the workingclass and lower middle-class São Paulo neighborhood where Volpi lived for most of his life. 24 Waldemar Cordeiro, spokesman for the Ruptura Group, himself an artist of Italian origin, drew on Gramscian Marxist theory to argue that the simplicity of the concrete geometric visual language held a direct appeal that transcended erudition and Volpi seems paradigmatic in this respect: "We believe with Gramsci that culture only exists historically when it creates a unity of thought between the 'simple [people]' and the artists and intellectuals. In effect, only within this symbiosis with the simple does art rid itself from the intellectual elements and from its subjective nature, and so becomes life."…”

“Alfredo Volpi na Berlinda”: crítica de arte e projetos estéticos concorrentes

“…Sem dúvida, os críticos de arte mais "famosos" na avaliação da obra de Volpi, pelo menos entre 1940 e 1950, são Mário de Andrade e Mário Pedrosa. Como a análise das críticas de Andrade e Pedrosa a Volpi já foi feita em trabalho recente, escrito por Pedro Rosa (2018), o foco aqui será em Spanudis e algumas de suas polêmicas com os concretos de São Paulo, especialmente Cordeiro -polêmicas que foram noticiadas e que ganharam repercussão nos jornais. Assim, creio que, limitando-me a Spanudis e às suas polêmicas, teremos acesso a um material ainda pouco conhecido e que revela distintos modos de se "traduzir" a obra de Volpi no interior do projeto construtivista.…”