Rodrigo Naves

Where Starts to Get Complex: The Painter's Dialogue with Both Concretistas and Neoconcretistas

Frontispiece (fig. 6a) To put it bluntly, Alfredo Volpi did not of his first retrospective at the Museu Snapshot taken at the exhibition Volpi: a Música da Cor [Volpi: The Music of endorse manifestos or publish theoretical de Arte Moderna do Color], organized by the Museu de Arte material. He barely uttered a word about (MAM-RJ, in 1957)—joined in bolstering Moderna, at the Ibirapuera Park in (April 5–July 5, 2006). other artists and was not strongly tied Volpi's image of unaffectedness. That Photo courtesy of the MAM-SP archives to any trend. Volpi was the s ame year, in the exhibition catalogue © Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo son of Italian immigrant parents who for the MAM-RJ, Pedrosa wrote: “Volpi Fig. 1 owned a small business in a working- never consulted a foreign magazine This photo, published in an article by 1 from the 1950s, class neighborhood of São Paulo. The to learn something about Picasso, shows the artist at home, at 154, Gama artist thrived on his simple, lifelong Matisse, Renoir, Van Gogh, or Gauguin's Cerqueira (Cambuci), where he played the guitar and was surrounded by his habits, and he was attached to his production. He never needed to look adopted children, José Roberto (left), neighborhood in the Cambuci, which at other people’s solutions (Volpi is Djanira (center), and his daughter, Eugênia Maria. at the time was a lower-middle-class not a pretentious person); instead, he Folha da Manhã, district where he spent his entire life. examined the people who surrounded São Paulo, April 20, 1952: 7 Photo by Gil Passarelli At the early age of twelve, Volpi went him, the humble human beings who © Folha da Manhã to work, first as a carver and bookbinder, gathered around him, children… VOLPI Imaginação © and then as a residential painter of everyday things and daily chores.” decorative arts. Volpi’s humble origins [Fig. 1] To the art critic, the painter likely contributed to his avoiding the was “incommunicado in the middle social scene of the visual arts milieu, of the Cambuci area.”3 thus reinforcing his image as a simple- minded person. Volpi was relu ctant to Indeed, Volpi was not a theoretician, accept influences or artistic affiliations,2 someone who clarified his conception and I do not believe it is by chance of the visual arts through written that he was primarily influenced by formulations and debates. Nevertheless, medieval painters such as Margaritone there are few Brazilian artists who— d´Arezzo or Giotto, the latter of whose apart from their artistic subjects— works he studied assiduously on his would have within their reach a richer only return trip to Europe, in 1950. It cultural milieu. That is to say, a modern is said that Volpi visited the Arena (or cultural scene in which dialogue and Scovegni) Chapel (1303–5) in Padua coexistence—and not merely etiquette eighteen times or so during that visit. and scholarly approach—prevailed, and thus taking into account the limitations It was this aura of simplicity that art intrinsic to one’s cultural milieu. To critics and writers employed to explain ignore this would be to identify Volpi’s Volpi’s personal and artistic purity as painting with a simplicity that would well as his intuitive approach. Even undoubtedly diminish the quandaries the Marxist critic Mário Pedrosa—one and complexities of the work. If, on one of the most important interpreters of hand, Volpi's painting seems to suggest Volpi’s work and the chief curator an e lementary approach lacking critical

252 253 Fig. 2 the Santa Helena group. [Fig. 2] Among Volpi, with friends at the Grupo Santa Helena workshop in São Paulo. them was Ernesto de Fiori, an Italo- From left to right: German painter and sculptor who had , Volpi, Paulo Rossi Ossir, Nélson Nóbrega, and Mário Zanini. arrived in in 1936 and maintained Late 1930s a high level of productivity as an artist Photo courtesy of Olívio Tavares de Araújo and art critic; , a Lithuanian VOLPI©Imaginação painter of Jewish birth who was trained in the German Expressionist milieu and had already settled in São Paulo in 1923; Tarsila do Amaral, a member of the 1922 Semana de Arte Moderna gene ration, who also was closely affili- ated with the avant garde tradition in Paris; and, finally, the art critic Sérgio Milliet, as well as the sculptor Bruno Giorgi.

tension, on the other hand it would promoted diverse trends. He fostered Fig. 3 Zanini) or as butchers (as was the case Waldemar Cordeiro According to Giorgi’s statement to be deceptive to understand his painting these connections with an outstanding “Volpi, o pintor de paredes que traduziu with Pennacchi). the press at Folha de São Paulo (1979), merely as something accomplished with- and a real sense of purpose. I do not a visualidade popular” [Volpi, the wall painter who translated the popular the sculptor himself brought Mário out mediation or debate. As understood believe it was by mere chance that, in visual language] Despite their modest social and cultural de Andrade—a Modernist writer and by the poet and art critic Murilo Mendes, 1926, his curiosity led him to a lecture In this article, Cordeiro emphasizes backgrounds, the members of the Grupo Volpi’s dedication to folk traditions. Folha well-respected intellectual at the time— Volpi “became impersonal, as anonymous given by Filippo Tommasso Marinetti da Manhã, São Paulo, April 20, 1952: 7 Santa Helena participated in important and Milliet to Volpi's painting studio as a painter from the Middle Ages,”4 at Teatro Cassino Antárctica, in São Photo by Gil Passarelli discussions on the international art © Folha da Manhã in 1937, and bo th scholars “were because his painting concentrated on Paulo. If Volpi’s technical apprentice- milieu. On one hand, in the case of VOLPI©Imaginação amazed.”8 Later, in 1944, the year of experience beyond subjective lyricism. ship began during his early years as Pennacchi, one could see the influence Volpi’s first solo exhibition, de Andrade However, as suggested by another artist a painter-decorator, it was only in the of the Italian Novecento in his paint- bought Marinha [Seascape], now in the 6 and his friend, , Volpi next decade of the 1930s that Volpi ings; moreover, Rebolo and Zanini collection of the Institute of Brazilian was able to “draw on a wealth of would come closer to joining an unoffi- analyzed the works of C arlo Carrà's Studies at the Universidade de São Paulo experience, which he shared—that is, cial association of artists—the Grupo fad, the “retour à l'ordre.” On the (IEB-USP). That same year de Andrade translated and articulated—with those Santa Helena—comprised of Francisco other hand, the group was receptive wrote an article for Folha da Manhã 5 eager to embrace his work.” Rebolo, , Manoel Martins, to an Italian tendency that was overtly in which he described an “unrestrained Humberto Rosa, , Aldo opposed: the Florentine painting temper” with regard to a painting that 7 Volpi maintaine d an intense level of Bonadei, and Clovis Graciano, among promoted by Ardengo Soffici. In the is “voluptuously lyrical.”9 Even if we productivity. During almost every phase others. Most of these artists came from second half of the 1930s, Volpi frequently stop a t this point in Volpi's career, it of his career, he found ways to keep lower-class backgrounds and thus were attended art classes that the painter would be impossible not to refer to his own work in the forefront of discus- not exposed to art. As a result, they Paulo Rossi Ossir organized at his someone who was involved with the sions, participating in dialogues with were employed as vocational painters workshop; well-informed artists partici- São Paulo artistic and cultural milieus. other artists and intellectuals that (as was the case with Volpi, Rebolo, and pated in addition to those belonging to

254 255 Fig. 4 out through the production of specific among many others. In the late 1950s, Volpi at a reunion held to welcome the Italian poet Giuseppe Ungaretti to Brazil, works. Very often, Volpi, the midcareer Volpi's home in the Cambuci district in 1968. From left to right: Volpi; painter of the late 1940s Facades series, became a meeting place for artists, and Ungaretti; the Brazilian physicist and art critic Mário Schemberg; the painter has been incorrectly ascribed positions Volpi relished sharing his expertise with ; and the poets on issues he did not actually endor se. younger artists. During the 1960s, Volpi (upper right) and Décio Pignatari (lower right). Due to both his silence on and distance became acquainted with intellectual 1968 from the group’s positions, Volpi came and artistic celebrities such as the Ital- Photo courtesy of Olívio Tavares de Araújo to be viewed in his old age as Cézanne ian poet Giuseppe Ungaretti [Fig. 4] and VOLPI©Imaginação was; that is, living in isolation in Aix- the Russian linguist Roman Jakobson, en-Provence, his public persona at the both of whom visited him at his work- mercy of Émile Bernard, who offered shop. Their visi ts testified that Volpi him information and interpretations was respected as an artist and not based on accounts by Maurice Denis, viewed simply as an exotic curiousity the artist’s most frequent contact.13 by Europeans passing through Brazil. Since the inauguration of the Museu It must be explained again that Volpi de Arte de São Paulo [MASP], in 1947, From 1930 to 1947, the city of São exhibition galleries for hours, every made an important six -month trip in and the decisive contribution of the Paulo was far from being a modern day, directly studying the originals that 1950 to and France, where he First São Paulo Biennial, in 1951, an art center. Nonetheless, Volpi had the he had previously loved only from a studied original works that until then unusual number of high-quality art- opportunity during this time to attend distance.... Mainly, he was bewildered he had known only through reproduc- works were presented in the country. To exhibitions on Cézanne, Matisse, Dufy, by Cézanne. ...The volumetric achieve- tions. Concurrently, the painter this day, the Second São Paulo Biennial Picasso, de Chirico, Morandi, Carrà, ment, the composition, the values, maintained, from 1951 on, a close (1953) is cons idered to be one of the Albers, Magnelli, Calder, Mario Sironi, Volpi analyzed everything silently, relationship with the psychoanalyst, most important exhibitions and Giovanni Fattori, among many interrupted from time to time only by art critic, and poet Theon Spanudis.14 of the twentieth century.15 others.10 Volpi even studied the polemical the dull noise of his usual bad words.”11 And I also wish to underscore that 1917 exhibition of the Brazilian painter The reason that I have spent so much Volpi was in contact with the São Paulo By and large, Volpi's career is viewed ’s work. In principle, time elucidating Volpi’s traits is that group headed by Walde- as having developed organically. attending art shows does not seem I want to destroy the artist’s image— mar Cordeiro, who wrote an ar ticle Nevertheless, as far as we know, his impressive by itself. Few Brazilian bolstered by the artist himself—as a on him in 1952, the same year that production during his so-called artists were able to incorporate talented noble savage.12 the ruptura Manifesto was brought to Concrete art phase—a period that lasted productively into their own works all light. [Fig. 3] From 1953 on, Volpi got three years in the late 1950s, though of the aesthetic influences within their From the late 1940s to the 1950s, the along well with less orthodox Construc- this cannot be stated with certainty reach. Consequently, Milliet's descrip- period around which the core of my tive painters, such as Willys de Castro because he never dated his paintings— tion of Volpi, on one of his forays essay revolves, Volpi maintained an and Hércules Barsotti. These acquain- is represented by wo rk reflecting the to the 1940 French Art Exhibition in intense dialogue with artists and intel- tances were enriched in São Paulo by most radical shift of his career. Further- São Paulo, perfectly illustrates the lectuals who were deeply committed Décio Pignatari and the brothers more, I am apt to believe that Volpi kind of rapport that the painter felt to overcoming Brazil’s parochialism, Augusto and Haroldo de Campos, experimented with numerous options with the works displayed there. Accord- in general, and São Paulo’s art milieu, harbingers of Concrete poetry, and while creating his paintings during ing to Milliet, Volpi “used to go to the in particular. This exchange was carried in Rio de Janeiro by Mário Pedrosa, this period, demonstrating that, for at

256 257 least a few years, the painter put aside Concrete art exhibit ion—Composição previous methods of production. concreta branca e vermelha [White and Red Concrete Composition] (mid-1960s) Some of these changes are overwhelm- —Volpi focused on a way to unify the ingly obvious. The painter abandons elements of the work. [Fig. 5] Red is paler and washed-out colors in favor extended to the edges of the painting of tempera's opacity, loo king to create and is suddenly interrupted by the homogeneous, intensely chromatic chesslike mesh that subtly organizes it, surfaces. Volpi never adopted industrial resulting from a progressive integration painting as applied by Concrete art of the red surface into the regular grid adherents. Two of his works exhibited in which red and white squares form a at The First National Exhibition of sequenc e. A pair of external diagonals Concrete Art (1956–57)—in which he (to the left and to the right) unleashes took part as a guest contributor—were a movement that breaks the peaceful built on a red tone that he had rarely series of red and white squares, thus used previously nor would he ever generating triangles that energize the employ in future canvases. Also, the composition so as to create new axes irregular characteristics of his Facades of perception. This occurs mainly if series, as well as the rough configura- we consider that the position of these tions that stressed handmade shapes, triangles is inverted in both directions, are substituted in this period by rigor- thus intensifying the dynamics of the ous straight lines and strictly geometric whole. Stemming from the two diago- forms. Many times—with regard to nals are two new ones (albeit interior) Fig. 5 which the work is figured: a diagonal The only triangle at left seems to differences that will be tackled below— that, given the odd number of squares Alfredo Volpi cutting-off of a square. suggest a mere continuity of the layout the outlined figures convey to each making up the work, have a parallel Composição concreta branca e vermelha [White and Red Concrete Composition] ruling the other pair of lines. By using other a kind of dynamic link, seemingly displacement instead of meeting each Tempera on canvas In another work, identified as Concreto irregular unfolding and different colors, in accordance with the ruptura Mani- other. Such an uneven situation provokes, Mid-1960s Collection of Rose and Alfredo Setúbal [Concrete Work] [see p. 319], the artist Volpi tries to show evidence of how festo. I mean, the artistic intuition at the geometric center of the piece, the Photo by Luigi Stavale displays three vertical lines of triangles both the insertion and the alternate “endowed wit h clear and intelligent emergence of a parallelogram, a sort of VOLPI©Imaginação of the same size. The ones at right and unfolding of similar shapes cause quite principles” while “considering art as taut combination of those triangles center are yellow and share an identical different perceptions and dynamics. a means of knowledge deducible from generated by cutting off the central position. The line at left is also begun If Josef Albers's influence could be concepts,” and all sorts of experiences squares. Due to its centrality and formal by a yellow triangle (at the base); then, evocative of such a dynamic percep- that tend “to [the] renewal of the difference, this figure is highlighted, it rises in a sequence of green triangles tion, this influence contributes to give fundamental values of visual art so that it operates as a sort of synthesis that alter nate in opposite directions. every appearance of complexity indeed (space-time, movement, and matter).”16 of movement that animates the static The canvas offers a much less strong to the other two lines. They seem to Admittedly, the paintings during this chessboard. It really appears as the only and less clear dominance than the avoid the symmetrical arrangement period reveal a clearer nexus among form that, while occupying two squares, painting previously described, but it of the green triangles, which is more forms and the evolutions therein. could contain the key to elucidating the still follows Constructive procedures. vivid, albeit more classical. In one of the paintings shown at the other procedures—the “construct” from

258 259 Compared with a painting by Waldemar to his Composição com semicírculos appeared in the press only two days impression that the left triangle could Cordeiro shown at The First National [Semicircular Composition] (1953)— apart. In spite of Gullar having set a be generating a formal development Exhibition of Concrete Art, Volpi’s canvas often lapsed into employing similar much more polemical tone in his note, in line with Concrete production. If is significantly different. In Cordeiro’s methods.17 both his and Pedrosa’s arguments were an imaginary line is drawn linking the Idéia visível [Visible Idea], the material headed in the same direction. On one upper left angle of the brown polygon employed is a sure indicator of the The artistic breakdown between the São hand, the Paulistas were more theoreti- to its lower right angle, the result is in artist’s intentions. Highlighted by the Paulo Concretos and the Rio de Janeiro cally grounded, closer to embracing fact another tri angle that shares similar black protection in the background, Neoconcreto s became official as soon ideas and visual dynamics, either coping dimensions with the one at left. That is the transparency of the support helps as the latter's manifesto was published with simplified forms or avoiding any to say, it hints at unleashing a formal to make visible Cordeiro’s idea. One in the Jornal de Brasil Sunday Supple- sort of subjective reference; on the dynamic, which is logical to a certain way or another, Cordeiro avoids the ment on March 22, 1959, and at the other hand, the Cariocas were prone to extent, but that is frustrated. Why? Be- mere concentric reiteration of the circles. Neo-Concrete Exhibition (held at the the empirical, involving both sensuality cause of its irregularity, the brown strip Instead, the composition suggests some Belvedere facilities [Salvador, Bahia, and subjectivity. They understood inhibits the conclusion of the process. figures that—due to their eccentricity— on November 11 of the same year). painting as a result of color and matter, give the impression that a lack of Eventually, it became clear that ties and not only as retinality produced by In this way, the brown-colored area balance leads to circular dynamics, between the groups had been acrimo- solid colors and intense shapes. tends to show up more as a force field which in turn puts them into motion, niously severed. I do not accept the breaking the stability of the painting precisely, for being unbalanced. Under premise that this split was the result of A broad discussion on the polemical square than as a device merely implying the ascendancy of late Constructivism— mere provinc ialism, because that approaches of Concretos and Neocon- the potential of motion. It is not by at the time was at the helm of obscures the complexity of the problem. cretos is beyond the focus of this essay.20 chance that the frame seems to move the Hochschule für Gestaltung [School Additionally, very few of the artists What is important to stress, however, closer to the rectangle. Moreover, such of Advanced Studies in Form] in Ulm— involved in the dispute were from either is that according to his output during a movement is reinforced by the fact many of the pieces displayed in The city, and the poet Spanudis, who signed the second h alf of the 1950s, Volpi that the strip becomes wider while First National Exhibition of Concrete the 1959 manifesto, and Barsotti and de seemed to straddle the influence of ascending. If it were set in an inverted Art gave greater importance to making Castro, both well-established artists in both groups, and always because of way—narrowing as it rises— it would visible the process that contributed to São Paulo, were all always closer to the his unique artistic solutions. Indeed, be perceived inevitably as a mere the final work itself. According to this Neo-Concrete movement. Nevertheless, one of the works that he created in perspective of a surface, and nothing thinking, the art that stemmed from because two versions of The First Na- 1958, Composição [Composition] [see more. Thus, the impression of one area industrial times would be unable to tional Exhibition of Concr ete Art were p. 317], points away from the previous operating on the othe r one would be perform if old notions of intuition, held (at MAM-SP in December 1956 paintings scrutinized. negated because of the virtuality in inspiration, or genius were at work. and at the Ministry of Education and which both would become entangled. Despite the fact that in 1956 it was Health, Rio de Janeiro, in February To begin, Volpi seems to plot a course easier to find a bigger rationality and 1957), some differences of opinion according to the expectations set forth Because of the way it is extended, the formal unity among t he Concrete group emerged. At the time that the Rio by Concrete art. His rendering is still brown strip is not exempt from ambi- of artists in São Paulo, some artists exhibition was carried out, both writers homogeneous: the line s are quite guity: it can merely suggest a blade from Rio—such as the painters Aluísio of the Neo-Concrete trend, Ferreira straight, and—because the base of the that is supported by the surface of the Carvão, the brothers César and Hélio Gullar18 and Mário Pedrosa,19 made left triangle and the brown irregular canvas. However, the illusion disappears Oiticica, , and the sculptor clear their points of disagreement with polygon (below) have (almost) the because of its firm placement at (mainly with regard regard to São Paulo, and their refutations same dimension—the observer gets the the base of the painting. Instead of

260 261 Fig. 6b same direction. From left to right, there Cover of the anthology (from verse to concrete poetry) published by the São is a triangle painted in a sort of faded Paulo group in its magazine noigandres, red sepia, a trapezoid in a more intense no. 5 (São Paulo: Massao Ohno, 1962). The cover reproduces a detail of red, and a white triangle. Alfredo Volpi’s work Composição– Ampulhetas [Composition–Hourglass], early 1960s. In this canvas the chromatic relationship Photo courtesy of Héctor Olea papers, performs a much more important role Houston © Décio Pignatari, Curitiba than in the previous work analyzed. The intrusion of the left triangle into the trapezoidal area signals a triumph over the solid color that gives, in turn, more intense actuality to the form that unfolds next. But, ironically, the expansion of this form is restricted by the white triangle. Once again, Volpi operates on the assumption of a full- fledged formal dynamic, which is being thwarted. Indeed, the three more aggressive triangles directing the dynamics, the work as a whole has as observer’s gaze—the central triangle as its prevalent trait a lack of balance, well as the on es at the lower right of which creates an unstable relationship the painting—engage in an intense between the brown strip and the field dialogue, a nexus of continuity in of the canvas. This intensifies much of which the direction pointed out by the its presence as a force operating on an previous triangle is intensified by the unvarying field, albeit at the start of next one. The result, however, is a sort of zero-sum, a realm of possibility (the Fig. 7 elements in order to return to those that one of Volpi’s most prolific periods, something more complex. Alfredo Volpi lower right angle of the painting) in Composição concreta his early oeuvre usually highlighted: the 1960s. which the force field ceases to exist. [Concrete Composition] the repressed gesture, the emphasis on Perhaps most of Volpi's oeuvre within Tempera on canvas Constructive art's sphere of influence Late 1950s the handmade quality of painting, the From Kasimir Malevich on, Construc- Everything leads us to believe that, Collection of Marcos Ribeiro Simon, timid and faded colors, the ongoing tivism—perhaps beginning with its is closer to the aestheticism of São Paulo Concrete art. [Fig. 6a, frontispiece, during the same period, Volpi was Photo courtesy of Gabinete de Arte transfer of tones to different areas of earliest manifestation, Suprematism— VOLPI Imaginação and Fig. 6b] Several other works, painti ng canvases based on an array © the canvas. So, if we are to understand aimed for art associated with techno- however, feature solutions closer to of styles, some closer to either Concrete this resumption, we must take into logical growth. Constructivism intended those described above, which imply a or Neo-Concrete art, others refocusing account the extent to which the artist’s to create a form of expression that was deeper involvement with Neo-Concrete his previous production. What is at experience with strong, clearly articu- equal to new challenges: “The past is art. Furthermore, the late 1950s painting stake, however, is understanding why lated shapes s purred change later on. unable to contain both the construction Composição Concreta [Concrete Compo- in the late 1950s he nearly put aside This is at the crux of understanding and the massive stream of our life. sition] [Fig. 7] is also evolving in the his clear method of articulating formal

262 263 Just as in our technical life: we cannot painting a critical insight into both of bandeirinhas [flags] that dominate my view, diminishes the strength of take advantage of the same sailing capitalist society and industry takes his production during the 1960s. What his works. Also, it seems clear to me ships used by Saracens; as in art, we place, so that his work is completely is at stake here is to find a common that Volpi's own experience with regard must look for forms responding to new devoted to a tighter notion of arts and ground among the elements, rather to the discussions carried out by both life.”21 In our times, technique goes craft than to a rigorous diagram of all than to ascribe false affinities to them. Concrete and Neo- Concrete artists and further; however, people strive to push technical, industrial, and mechanical Volpi’s approach to tempera helped to poets is partly responsible for his inno- art back more and more. A clear and processes.23 Volpi’s way of sketching organize his painting. The artist's timid vative formal articulations, even though evident nexus among the elements of and moving closer to human beings gestures are not related to a certain his solutions fell short of those achieved either painting or would depends on a protracted experience expressiveness that discloses a subjective by his counterparts in both groups. mirror—in a critical manner for sure— through which knowledge is constituted. drama; the gestures serve a decisive how these technical elements speak to I mean, a knowledge that grasps the function: to contribute t o the effective- Volpi is invariably considered a great each other and how their neat assimila- formal aspect of matter and things ness of the tones. Insofar as colors are colorist, and I do not deny that color tion into nature occurs.22 In its last without altering natural consistency not really seen as a whole—just as the plays an important role in his painting. phase, primarily via Max Bill, such a or resisting technical procedures. result of an application that yields a But it is paradoxical to characterize Constructivist concern led to a vindica- Ideally, to Volpi, form s should accept flat, homogeneous texture—they natu- an artist as being prone to tones. In tion of the formal clarity that reached the natural wear and tear of things, just rally tend to go beyond the fringes in addition to Morandi, Henri Matisse was the fringes of transforming the art- as the rungs on an old ladder become search of their own identity. Coming among Volpi’s favorite modern painters work's own structure into a reversible rotten and concave with time. And this closer to these border lines, any tonal because color in Matisse's paintings has process, one in which the observer is precisely revealed by the hesitant transition is followed to the letter. an organizing function. Colors confirm should remake all sorts of procedures development of Volpi's motives, which and organize the surface of Matisse’s carried ou t in either painting or sculp- are rarely defined, except during the This is where Volpi starts to get complex, works, even if their chromatic unity is ture. It is not by chance that the Möbius ascendancy of Concrete art in Brazil, I believe, and some of the difficulties challenged by the introduction of mani- strip practically became the emblem of in which Volpi became aligned with in his work are found when the artist fold arabesques and patterns. In Volpi's this way of thinking. All we have to do the principles of matter taking shape. used more subdued colors, either in his painting, however, such a movement is is to observe a sculpture such as Bill's Concrete art phase or in his previous as rarely consolidated. From time to time, Dreiteilige Einheit [Tripartite Unity] Likewise, the relationship between forms well as later production. He was unable some colors achieve a broader autonomy (1948–49)—so influential in Brazilian is du e to similar principles. In Volpi's to overcome the limits imposed by the so that they hold on tightly to the art in the 1950s [see p. 52, frontispiece]— best pictorial moments—at least from the traditional figure/background nexus. In surface of the canvas. Due to their timid to get an idea of the widespread con- late 1940s on—a very subtle tendency to my opinion, and according to the works application, however, the full intensity ception of form, as well as the problems tones was made possible because of the already analyzed—in which the rela- of those affirmative instants plays that its reversibi lity, transparence, and interplay among several elements in a tionship between his production and down the force of the tonal movement. linearity imply. work. In this respect, few artists were Concrete/Neo-Concrete discussions was more important to Volpi than Giorgio underscored—Volpi has ove rcome such According to Constructivist aesthetics, For Volpi (and in our effort to see his Morandi.24 The proximity of tones unites difficulties either by presenting more the emphasis on impersonal, colored production as a whole), it would be some areas of Volpi’s canvas, but with- dynamic solutions or by constructing surfaces is justified by the search for practically impossible to thoroughly out giving the impression of an outright less readable paths, albeit encompass- an art departing from subjectivity and assimilate all of the possible premises, subjection to a previous structure; even ing brand-new and enticing ways out. heading toward individuality. From the even if they are considered important though such a structure exists, which is By and large, however, the canvases are point of view of percep tion, what was to his pictorial education. In Volpi's demonstrated by the complex profusion ruled by a certain stiffness, which, in at stake implied the need to find a

264 265 sensible form to express the present, simple dress, the personal framing of the Concrete and the Neo-Concrete According to Volpi, everything seems a present that is both anonymous and his pieces and the handmade paints, artists, in addition to other artistic to indicate that the social order existing full of new possibilities; in other words, the countless children he adopted, the and intellectual productions at the in Brazil was unfit to produce the proper a time in which we would be freed from humble house he owned at 154, Gama time in São Paulo or Rio. On the other answer to the challenges brought to the shackles of tradition and receptive Cerqueira in Cambuci, his read iness hand, even if Volpi had absorbed the the fore by industrial growth, urban to new paths made possible because to help others in urgent need of influence of Brazilian Constructivist planning, and competition. Beyond of technological innovation and the humanitarian aid, and so on. These movements, he later inverted the rule to the complex issues set up by capitalist nurturing of human ability. characteristics all spoke volumes about have an impact on key artists belonging development in the country, Volpi a lifestyle that veered as far as possible to those movements. To the best of responded with another sort of Volpi tries to be anonymo us, but not from trade, profit, and vested interests. my knowledge, it is almost impossible complexity, the result of his sophisticated in the present or within the sphere of [Fig. 8] As with the very subtle crafts- to consider Hélio Oitici ca's pigmented experiences as an individual and stem- industrial impersonality. The imperson- manship that his canvases suggest, Bólides series (1963–67) without ming from his quite different nature. ality of his canvases stems from the Volpi himself would stand as a sort acknowledging the influence of Volpi's Volpi refused to participate in either a very same lingering time through of last, great representative of a noble canvases, in which the pigments are differentiated game or an unavoidable which his forms appear. Similar to his specimen in danger of extinction, as barely hidden.26 Moreover, Amilcar conflict within such a new form of treatment of colors—and reminiscent in the original; h is works being both de Castro used to consider Volpi the sociability. And it seems to me that his of the frescos of which he was so the exclamation point and thus the top Brazilian artist, and I believe de refusal really shows Brazilian culture, fond—Volpi was committed to creating defining statement of that remote but Castro’s displaced-cutout and so deeply that the discussion of his experiences evoking an age that had worthwhile history. What is hidden by owe a debt to Volpi’s tonal passages.27 oeuvre—simplific ations and reductions stratified in time.25 For this reason, his Volpi's persona—and for this reason I The list becomes endless: the foldings apart—contains at the very core a good canvases needed to make evident their needed to begin by sketching it—is the of the Bichos [Critters] series (1960–63) amount of instruction. hand-crafted origin. It is through fact that the artist reached these kinds by ; A luísio Carvão's para- this kind of work, conveyed by one's of solutions because of his peculiar digmatic Grupo Frente piece Cubocôr

Fig. 8 experiences and put into practice—a incorporation of modern tradition. [Color Cube] (1960); certain expansions Volpi, in the mid-1980s, relaxing tradition lost in time and therefore And such solutions were not sponta- unfolded in Franz Weissmann's casually at his workshop in the Cambuci district of São Paulo. omitting every trace of individual neous, shadowlike representations of sculptures; 's woodcuts of Photo by Manoel Valença approach—that Volpi wanted to build the artist. So, we must understand why the Tecelares [Looms] series (1955–59), Photo courtesy of Olívia Tavares de Araújo his hopes. The history that emerged the Brazilian social experience followed and this involves their simultaneous VOLPI©Imaginação from his works distrusted the availability a plot against an affirmative and manual and geometric implications, of a present that required the past to differentiated art, as occurred both in and so on and so forth. All of these be put in parentheses in order to the United States and in Europe under developments indicate that the issues accomplish its expecta tions. Constructivist concerns. embedded in Volpi's painting responded to questions that were not superficial Moreover, there was a public image, I think, in his unique way, Volpi with regard to Brazil at the polar an almost Franciscan look that Volpi produced work that challenged the extremes: the possibilities and the crafted over the decades to reinforce optimism that industrialization had impossibilities. the symbolic dimension embedded in introduced in Brazil, mainly from the his works. To wit, his inevitable hand- 1950s on. And this challenge also made cigarette, his clogs, his very echoed throughout the works hof bot

266 267 NOTES 13 See Richard Shiff, Cézanne et la fin de l´impression- 18 Oliveira Bastos and Ferreira Gullar, “I Exposição Na- 26 As far as I know, Waldemar Cordeiro was the first to 1 Volpi was born in Lucca, Italy, on April 14, 1896. isme, trans. Jean-François Allain (Paris: Flammarion, cional de Arte Concreta, I, O Grupo de São Paulo,” SDJB, underscore an approach between Volpi's colors and “the He arrived in Brazil in October 1898. 1995), mainly chapters 12–13. Original edition in Eng- February 17, 1957. clay [that he] used to color” walls in humble houses in lish, Cézanne and the End of Impressionism: A Study of the provinces. See “Volpi, o pintor de paredes que 2 See Olívio Tavares de Araújo, “Volpi 2006. Nenhum the Theory, Technique, and Critical Evaluation of Modern 19 Pedrosa, “Paulistas e cariocas,” Jornal do Brasil, traduziu a visualidade popular,” in Folha da Manhã, April subterfúgio ou estratégia,” in Volpi–a música da cor, exh. Art (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1984). February 19, 1957. Repr., Aracy A. Amaral, ed., Projeto 20, 1952: 7. According to Cordeiro, Volpi produced mas- cat. (São Paulo: Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Construtivo na Arte, exh. cat. (São Paulo: Pinacoteca do terpieces by “heightening the visual acuity of Brazilian 2006), 21. 14 Theon Spanudis (1915–1986) was born in Smyrna, Estado de São Paulo, 1977). Also in Acadêmicos e mod- folks and raising it to a universal language.” As a popular Turkey, to a Greek family. He graduated with a degree in ernos, 253–56. procedure in rural areas of Brazil, clay is diluted with 3 Mário Pedrosa, “Volpi, 1924–1957,” in an exhibition psychiatry and psychoanalysis from the university in water for whitewashing the exterior walls of houses. I catalogue of the artist's retrospective at the MAM-RJ, Vienna, arriving in 1950 in Brazil, where he practiced for 20 See Ronaldo Brito, Neoconcretismo. Vértice e ruptura also had a conversation with the artist Antonio Manuel, June 1957. Under the title “Introdução a Volpi,” Pedrosa's a decade. Later, Spanudis studied Martin Heidegger's do projeto construtivo brasileiro (Rio de Janeiro: who was close to Hélio Oiticica in the 1960s and 1970s. essay was also published in Malasartes, no. 2, Rio de philosophy and became one of the first translators in FUNARTE/Instituto Nacional de Artes Plásticas, 1985; Manuel thought the comparison of Volpi’s work to Oiti- Janeiro (1976): 32–34. Repr., Otília Arantes, ed., Brazil of the Greek poet Kavafys. As of 1951, Spanudis 2nd ed. [São Paulo, Cosac & Naify], 1999). cica's pigmented Bólides series was too obvious. Acadêmicos e modernos. Textos escolhidos III–Mário became the main supporter of Volpi's work, either by Pedrosa (São Paulo: edusp, 1998), 264, 268. buying his paintings or by writing about them. Spanudis 21 Kasimir Malevitch, “Del cubismo y del futurismo al 27 I received a confirmatory response from Amilcar de influenced São Paulo collectors, and that aided the suprematismo. El nuevo realismo pictorico,” in El nuevo Castro, to whom I was very close in the 1980s and 1990s. 4 Murilo Mendes, untitled exhibition catalogue for promotion of Volpi's work through different collections. realismo plástico, translated into Spanish by Antonio According to de Castro, the sculptures that he was creat- the Galeria de Arte da Casa do Brasil, in , 1963. Rodriguez (Madrid: Comunicación, 1975), 30. A thirty- ing incorporated tonal hues influenced by Morandi’s Repr., Aracy A. Amaral, ed., Alfredo Volpi: pintura 15 Among the foreigners, the presence of the following one-page brochure titled “Ot kubizma i futurizma k work; however, I believe that Volpi was instrumental in (1914–1972), exh. cat. (Rio de Janeiro: Museu de Arte artists must be underscored: Paul Klee (65 works); Oskar suprematizmu. Novyi jivopisnyi realizm” was published bringing de Castro’s tonality to light. Moderna, October–November, 1972), 40. Kokoschka (9 paintings); James Ensor (29 prints); in (1916), illustrating the text with a pair of Alexander Calder (45 pieces); Willem de Kooning (8 Malevich’s Suprematist paintings. French version in “Du 5 Willys de Castro, Volpi pinta vôlpis, exh. cat. (São paintings); Robert Motherwell (5 works); Georges Braque cubisme et du futurisme au suprématisme: le nouveau Paulo: Galeria São Luís, September 1960). Repr., Alfredo (9 paintings); Robert Delaunay (5 works); Marcel réalisme pictural,” in Malevitch. Écrits, presented by Volpi: pintura (1914–1972), 39. My emphasis. Duchamp (The Chess Players only); Fernand Léger Andréi Nakov and translated by Andrée Robel (Paris: (7 paintings); Pablo Picasso (10 works, plus a 51-piece Éditions Ivrea, 1996), 182.—Ed. 6 See Tadeu Chiarelli, “Sobre a experiência brasileira special hall that included his masterpiece Guernica); de Fulvio Pennacchi,” in Pennacchi–100 anos (São Paulo: Constantin Brancusi (1 sculpture); Henry Moore (69 22 Later, in 1920–21, Malevich will specify his criticism Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, 2006). pieces); Piet Mondrian (20 works, including two Boogie- of a merely utilitarian technique. See Malevich, Dos Woogie versions); Karel Appel (5 works); an exhibition novos sistemas de arte, translated into Portuguese by 7 Lorenzo Mammì, Volpi (São Paulo: Cosac & Naify, on that encompassed the works of Giaccomo Cristina Dunaeva (São Paulo: Hedra, 2007), 26. A thirty- 1999), 15–16. Balla (5), Umberto Boccioni (10), Carlo Carrà (5), and two-page lithographic brochure—three pages of which Ardengo Soffici (3), among others; Giorgio Morandi (29 explain Malevich's nonlogical system—was originally 8 Quoted in the chronology established in Sônia works); Edvard Munch (69 paintings); Joaquín Torres- published as “O novych sistemakh v iskusstve,” Vitevsk Salzstein, Volpi (Rio de Janeiro: Sílvia Roesler/Campos García (4 works); and so forth. In addition to these, there Art School, 1920. French version in “Des nouveaux sys- Gerais, 2000). was an outstanding show on modern architecture. tèmes dans l'art,” in Malevitch. Écrits, 323–71.—Ed.

9 Apud Mammì, Volpi, 25. 16 The ruptura Manifesto was read aloud and distributed 23 In this part of the argument, I repurpose some ideas, as a flyer at the exhibition of the Concrete duly informed by debates and reflection, from my essay 10 For a thorough consideration of these exhibitions, see at the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo on December “Anonimato e singularidade em Volpi,” in A forma difícil the already cited works of Salzstein (chronology) and 22, 1952. The controversial manifesto was signed by (São Paulo: Ática, 1996). Mammì (foreword). Lothar Charroux, Waldemar Cordeiro, , Kazmer Féjer, Leopold Haar, Luis Sacilotto, and Anatol 24 With regard to Morandi's problems facing industrial 11 Milliet, “Alfredo Volpi,” in Fora de forma (São Paulo: Wladyslaw. Later, it was published in the daily press as civilization, see Franco Solmi, Morandi: storia e leggenda Anchieta, 1942), 135. “Ruptura,” Correio Paulistano, São Paulo, January 11, (Bologna: Grafis, 1978). 1953: 3. English translation in Héctor Olea and Mari Car- 12 Eleonore Koch was the only painter that Volpi ac- men Ramírez, eds., Inverted Utopias: Avant-Garde Art in 25 I had the opportunity to talk about these issues with cepted as his student (1952–53). They lived and worked Latin America (New Haven and Houston: Yale University Domingos Giobbi, one of the main collectors of Volpi's side by side. She said he used to go to exhibitions on Press/The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2004), 494; oeuvre. With regard to my focus, Giobbi understands weekends, that he cherished the discussion of his works document 47.—Ed. Volpi’s work in a similar manner, because he began with other artists, and that he was extremely rigorous in visiting Volpi’s workshop in the late 1960s. Both Giobbi's his opinion of others' work. Statement to Fernanda Pitta, 17 For a comprehensive perspective on The First shrewdness and sensibility speak volumes on the September 23, 2007. National Exhibition of Concrete Art, see concreta´56, a sophistication of some of the collectors of Volpi’s work. raiz da forma, exh. cat. (São Paulo: Museu de Arte Mod- erna de São Paulo, 2006).

268 269 Translated by David Allan Rodgers Translation from Novos Estudos Cebrap , n.81, p.139-155, July 2008.