Guignard – The plastic memory of modern Brazil

One of the fertile ways to think about the formation of modern art in Brazil is a geological metaphor. Let's imagine an archipelago in formation, with islands of different altitudes, some higher, others lower. We are well before a continuous territory, a continent, as we will see forming from the 1950s onwards, with the assimilation of the constructive languages ​​of the second post-war period, in which the languages ​​of the works promote an intense dialogue between themselves, regardless of the relationships between the artists.

The idea of ​​the archipelago comes from the idiosyncratic character of the languages ​​explored, already modern, which, however, do not talk to each other, each seeking its own path. We could think of the beginning of the formation of this archipelago with some islands that were already decidedly modern, for example, Almeida Júnior (1851-1899), Castagneto (1851-1900), Eliseu Visconti (1866-1944), these islands will multiply with Anita Malfatti ( 1889-1964), Tarsila do Amaral (1886-1973), Lasar Segall (1891-1957), Goeldi (1895-1961), Di Cavalcanti (1897-1976), Vicente do Rego Monteiro (1899-1970), Ismael Nery ( 1900-1934), Pancetti (1902-1958), Candido Portinari (1903-1962), Cícero Dias (1907-2003), among many others. For the multiplier impulse, an important role was played, among other factors, by a desire to be modern, which afflicted Brazilian culture throughout the first decades of the last century and was embodied in the Modern Art Week of 1922, in São Paulo. It is now not only about isolated modern experiences – such as the novels of Machado de Assis and Lima Barreto, or the poetry of the symbolists Cruz e Sousa and Alphonsus de Guimaraens –, but also an attitude of systematic combat, led by artists , writers and intellectuals, against the academic values ​​that offered an obstacle to modernity. Among the modern islands of this archipelago, there is one at a high altitude: the work of Alberto da Veiga Guignard (Nova Friburgo, RJ, 1896 – Belo Horizonte, MG, 1962).

Guignard's lyricism is unique in our modernity. The landscapes and parties that often float – in a blue-gray, sometimes very dark atmosphere – buildings, houses, churches, along with balloons, seem to expose a phenomenology of appearance, just like the drawings and monotypes of Mira Schendel, and the paintings by Rothko. It's as if art captures the moment in which things emerge, even before they find their definitive place on a piece of land. Guignard's portraits, along with landscapes, are other privileged chapters of the artist's work.

There would be many portraits that we could dwell on, but the self-portraits, painstakingly created over decades, point to the harelip which, according to his biographers, decisively interfered in his existence, particularly his love life. But, surprisingly, he did not interfere in the educator's life. Guignard was a great trainer of artists, using gestures and a voice deformed by disability; He was capable of teaching and great artists emerged from his schools, previously in Rio de Janeiro and, particularly, in the experience developed in Belo Horizonte, from 1944 onwards, invited by Mayor Juscelino Kubitschek. Of Guignard's lessons, we must remember those of drawing, recalled by one of our greatest artists, his disciple Amilcar de Castro, on the use of hard pencils, dry graphite that did not allow corrections. You made a mistake, you have to admit it. And, according to Amilcar, his entire sculptural work derives from the drawing taught by Guignard. It's not little.

His work is said to be decorative; Matisse was also a great decorative revolutionary. Pleasing the eyes today may be a sin, but when a great work becomes emancipated in modernity, bringing pleasure to contemplation, and presents, with it, moments of reflection along with the pleasure of looking, that's all we need. Here, she is presented, with moments from some of her contemporaries. The pleasure of looking is expected to be accompanied by the enjoyment of thinking.

Paulo Sergio Duarte
Curator