Varför känner vi inte till Tarsila do Amaral? : En studie av polariseringen mellan ”vi” och ”dom” i konsthistorien med utgångspunkt i antropofagin i 1920-talets Brasilien

• Main Author: Emtestam, Petra
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Södertörns högskola, Institutionen för kultur och kommunikation 2006
• Subjects: Tarsila do Amaral; art history; Brazil; postcolonial studies; identity; anthropophagy; modernism; canonization; polarization; colonialization.; Art; Konstvetenskap
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-760

The abscence of the brazilian artist Tarsila do Amaral (1886–1973) in the general art history is investigated, using the colonial structure as a starting point. In South America she is regarded as one of the greatest artists in modern time, in the rest of the world she is more or less unknown. The conclusion is that the colonial mechanisms are still in progress in our assumed postcolonial world, and has excluded Tarsila do Amaral, and the anthropophagic movement she was a part of, from the art history. The study points out the importance of looking into this neglected artist and the historic event. Not only to add it to the history of art, but also to show how anthropophagy as an artistic strategy created in the 1920’s Brazil is as relevant today as it was then. Three oil paintings of Tarsila do Amaral is used to describe the artistic strategy that solved the problem of beeing shaped as a mirror image to the western world. The paintings A Negra, Abaporu and Antropofagia tells us the story of how the Brazilian people started to see themselves as culturaly independent from Europe. Neither as something opposite nor similiar, but as something between. Anthropophagy is challenging our notion of ”us” and ”them” as well as centre and periphery – and is therefor useful in the writing of art history. Its not only important to make room for Tarsila do Amaral in the history of art – its also urgent to let her contribution be a part of the present art world.