brazil first republic
A Negra (The Black Woman)
Oil on canvas by Tarsila do Amaral, 1923. A monumental seated female figure with exaggerated anatomy — one enormous bare breast, simplified rounded forms — rendered in warm earth tones against a stylized geometric background of deep blue and brown bands. Painted while Tarsila was studying in Paris with Léger and the Académie Julian group, it represents her effort to synthesize Cubist formal vocabulary with Brazilian Afro-Brazilian identity. One of the foundational works of Brazilian modernism. Held at MASP (Museu de Arte de São Paulo).
Scholarly Significance
A Negra (1923) by Tarsila do Amaral — landmark of Brazilian modernism and African diaspora representation; precursor to Abaporu.
Notes
- ·Painted in Paris during Tarsila's studies; one of the first major works in her Pau-Brasil (Brazilwood) phase.
- ·The exaggerated anatomy draws on both Léger's tubular figures and memories of Tarsila's Afro-Brazilian nurse (babá) from childhood.
- ·The figure anticipates the monstrous/exaggerated body of Abaporu (1928), which triggered the Manifesto Antropófago.
- ·MASP acquired the work from the artist's estate.