Emiliano di Cavalcanti (1897-1967)

Hélio Pereira Bicudo, São Paulo
Private Collection, São Paulo

São Paulo, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Retrospectiva de di Cavalcanti, 1971

This work is quite presentable in its current state. However, the upper crossbar of the stretcher is very warped and is pressing against the canvas. This in turn is distorting the stretching of the canvas throughout. If this crossbar were replaced, it would be easier to create a better surface. The original canvas is very thin. It seems that there may be a lining adhered to the original canvas, with another canvas stretched but not adhered over the reverse. The visible unpainted edges have received a light cream colored non original wash of color, and this paint does stray into the ivory patches of color within the pattern in the lower left. It seems that the painting is overall in very healthy state, but the stretcher and the structure of the work need to be re-examined. The retouches may be slightly exaggerated, but the work looks well. (This condition report has been provided courtesy of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.)
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A foundational figure of Brazilian modernism and its key event, the renowned Semana de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (1922), Emiliano di Cavalcanti (1897-1967) personified the avant garde in his native Rio de Janeiro. Keenly aware of European art through an extensive network of fellow artists that included: Braque, Cocteau, Léger, Matisse, and of course, Picasso, di Cavalcanti blended Cubism, Fauvism and Picasso's Neoclassicism of the 1920s into an extravagantly colorful--if determinedly more conservative style. Sensuous mulata women, carnival scenes, poor fishermen, and social outcasts were among di Cavalcanti's most favored themes. Together they embody an enduring territory of recognizable characters, situations, and traditions co-existing within the structural complexities of a culture distinctly aware of its social and racial disparities.

Figuras com bandolim, coruja e gatos marks an interesting departure from Di Cavalcanti's prototypical imagery. A large-scale and delightfully accomplished interpretation of the Commedia dell'Arte, Figuras com bandolim, coruja e gatos evokes Picasso's Three Musicians of 1921, an icon of Synthetic Cubism and part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Like its predecessor, the present painting evokes three figures whose schematic appearance resembles that of magazine cut outs. Harmoniously rendered in chromatic and earthy tones of deep browns and celestial blues, their quasi-bodies disintegrate against the forceful outline imposed on their own angular shapes. 

At the center, we recognize a mandolin, key protagonist of the composition. Tenderly carried by the largest figure, it quickly demands to be reconstructed and assimilated as a musical instrument. Above it, we encounter its owner's visage capriciously distorted into a self-reflective gaze. To its left, a curious blue owl securely perched on a figure's shoulder, meets the viewer with a frontal caricature stance. Here as in other Cubist works, we are asked to reconstruct both subject and space by comparing shapes and forms to determine what each one represents. Through this process, we the viewer participate in a private adventure to decode meaning. Painted in the early 1950s, Figuras com bandolim, coruja e gatos confirms di Cavalcanti's commitment for merging the carioca spirit, its people and traditions, into the avant garde aesthetic.