Portinari,Guignard,SantaRosa

Amid the political tensions that swept through Brazil during Getúlio Vargas's time in power, some artists based in the federal capital produced a series of independent initiatives, whose immediate impacts on Rio's artistic scene still reverberate today. Among various names and pursuits, three artists – one from Rio Grande do Sul, one from Rio de Janeiro state, and one from Paraíba – occupied every possible space to practice their art and, above all, spread their teachings and practices. Cândido Portinari, Alberto da Veiga Guignard, and Tomás Santa Rosa Júnior were the three names responsible for some of the decisive moments in the art made in Rio de Janeiro during this period.

Each of these names contributed in different ways to what was happening in the city. Portinari arrived in the capital of the Republic in 1919 to study and pursue an artistic career, which only occurred solidly in the 1930s. His preference for the emerging Brazilian modernism meant that his work only won an official prize – at the 1928 General Exhibition of Fine Arts – with a traditional portrait of the poet and academic Olegário Mariano. After two years in Paris (with an exhibition held at the Palace Hotel in 1929, presented by Ronald de Carvalho), Portinari returned to Rio de Janeiro already in the Vargas period and with a definitive turn toward a painting that would be, at the same time, modern and Brazilian. His presence in the city, his relationships with the cultural circles of different fields, and his teaching ability made him a reference for other generations that sought, in the increasingly famous painter, a master. When he became a professor of mural and easel painting at the Universidade do Distrito Federal in 1935, this impact grew considerably, paving the way for the official consecration the painter would experience in the following years.

Image description: This is a colorful painting depicting a tropical scene. On the left side, we see a tree with green leaves and a parrot with blue, yellow, and red feathers perched on a branch. In front of it, there is a large yellow and green flower. In the center, there is a human figure seen from behind, wearing green and blue clothing, looking toward the tree. In the background, we see a beach with white sand and blue water. There are also colorful plants and flowers scattered throughout the scene.

Alberto da Veiga Guignard is another name who comes to Rio in search of study and deepening of his art. After living twenty-one years in Europe, he arrives in the city in 1929 and comes across an artistic environment that is precarious and limited compared to what he experienced in cities like Florence and, especially, Munich. With this outlook, Guignard immerses himself not only in producing a body of work that is extremely important to the second phase of Brazilian modernism, but especially in teaching. The lyricism of his canvases produces another creative outlook amid the avant-garde demands of the time, adapting his German expressionist training to the popular characters and landscapes of Rio and Brazil.

In 1931, he became an arts teacher at Fundação Osório, a small institution located in Rio Comprido, teaching mostly girls, children, and teenagers until 1943. Guignard also carried out arts outreach initiatives, such as an exhibition in 1931 and a Carnival Ball in 1932 at Pro-Arte, in addition to taking part in public debates and Salons, and being one of those who worked during the first and controversial phase of the Universidade do Distrito Federal.

Image description: This is a painting depicting a family in an interior setting. On the left side, a man is seated in a red chair with geometric patterns. He wears a white uniform with gold details and a white hat. In front of him is a child dressed in a blue and white uniform. In the background, two adults are standing, both wearing white uniforms with gold details and white hats. The woman on the right is seated in a blue chair with floral patterns, wearing a yellow dress with gold details. The background shows an open window with a view of a cloudy sky and some trees.

Nominated by Portinari back in 1935, he remained a drawing teacher for a brief six months. Coming from a self-taught teaching practice at Fundação Osório, Guignard says in letters and interviews about the period that he could not relate to the school's precepts. Even so, the painter played an important role in the institution during that period. It was in that same year of political radicalism and creative effervescence that Guignard painted one of his most famous "carioca" canvases – A Família do Fuzileiro Naval – bought by Mário de Andrade for his famous collection. In the following years, the painter would continue his teaching mission, offering free, open courses in spaces such as UNE, on Praia do Flamengo (1942). This initiative, which included promising talents such as Iberê Camargo, gave rise in 1943 to the Grupo Guignard, whose headquarters operated on Rua Marques de Abrantes, in the Flamengo neighborhood.

Tomás Santa Rosa, from Paraíba, despite not having the same prominence as a painter that the other two had in their time and even today, was a tireless worker in the visual arts in Rio de Janeiro. His graphic work at major publishers such as José Olympio led him into other fields with his drawing and painting, such as set design for theater plays, an area in which he achieved immense prominence, becoming one of the most important names in that field in the country. Upon arriving in Rio in 1932, Santa Rosa lived with his fellow Paraíban José Lins do Rego in a boarding house in Catete.

Image description: This is a painting depicting a popular music scene. The composition is dense, with several figures arranged in groups. On the left, a woman plays the flute, while in front, a man holds an acoustic guitar. Further to the right, another musician plays a tambourine. In the center, a woman holds an acoustic guitar, and beside her, a man watches. In the upper part, several people attentively observe the musical scene. The predominant colors are shades of beige, brown, and light blue. There is no visible text in the image.

Santa Rosa, besides his graphic work in illustration, drawings for the press, and set design for historic plays such as the first staging at the Teatro Municipal of Nelson Rodrigues's Vestido de Noiva (1943), was an active participant in the political movements of the time, organizing alongside Aníbal Machado and Álvaro Moreira in 1935, at the Clube Municipal on Avenida Rio Branco, the first Exposição de Arte Social, with the participation of Guignard, Portinari, Di Cavalcanti, Oswaldo Goeldi, Carlos Leão, Waldemar da Costa, Lazar Segall, Cícero Dias, among others. Santa Rosa was also important in the creation and execution of Portinari's famous murals, having been one of his most dedicated students during the period when the gaúcho painter taught at the Universidade do Distrito Federal, later bringing his students along to important works carried out around the city.