How the “Cannibal Manifesto” changed Brazil
It is 100 years since modernists vowed to transform the country’s culture
A HUNDRED YEARS ago this weekend, a group of young artists and writers organised what they called the Modern Art Week in the new and grandiose municipal theatre in São Paulo. In fact, it lasted only for three evenings. It included a show of modernist painting, lectures, poetry recitals and music by Heitor Villa-Lobos, who was to become Brazil’s best-known composer. It has since come to be seen as the founding moment of modern Brazilian artistic culture. Its centenary has brought both commemoration and some criticism. It comes as the cultural tradition it represents is under assault from Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s populist president.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “The week that changed a culture”
From the February 12th 2022 edition
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