Exporting nationalism: Portinari, Brazilian identity and the United States (1935-1942)

ABSTRACT

Candido Portinari traveled a glorious trajectory in the United States between 1935 and 1942, during which he created emblematic artworks for the country: Coffee, the panels of the Brazilian pavilion at the New York World Fair and the murals at the Library of Congress. We examine the distinctive and experimental character of these pictorial representations of Brazil created for North America - almost all sponsored by the Estado Novo regime - as well as their reception by the American public. The main documental sources used are institutional memoranda, correspondence, critical texts, and newspaper articles from the 1930s and 1940s. The artworks analyzed present a breviary of the ideal of brasilidade fomented in the United States through Brazilian painting during the Good Neighbor Policy and clarify Brazil’s promotion in America in this period.

KEYWORDS:
Candido Portinari; Brazilian Modern Painting; National Identity; United States, Good Neighbor Policy