Book dossier

Exercícios de olhar

by Jorge Schwartz, Marcelo Monzani, Jean-Claude Bernadet

"Eye Exercises" comprises 37 works by 32 artists, from different periods and trends in the history of Brazilian art. The exhibition features paintings, prints and drawings belonging to private collections and holdings of museums in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Curator, art historian and former Director of the Pinacoteca Aracy Amaral selected works from the late 19th century to contemporary times with emphasis on works from the modernist period, always focusing on the unusual theme of the back of the human figure. "This focus angle - the omission of the front figure - forces the viewer to find out what is on the other side". The catalogue spans from the academic and Classic approach of Rodolfo Amoedo and Eliseu Visconti and their figures close to sensuality to the arrival of modernism and includes art by cubists Candido Portinari and Vicente do Rego Monteiro, expressionists Oswaldo Goeldi and Lasar Segall and futurist Anita Malfatti. Only one photograph is part of this collection, as a differentiated counterpoint for its visual impact, taken by Saul Nicolai (1992), "Inside ourself" (2011), the back of young man facing the dense and compact urban landscape of Rio de Janeiro.