Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Araguaia
Europa
Paraguai
Peru
Flávio de Carvalho
Expedicionário
Expeditioner
Curadoria 09.01-04.03.2018
Amanda Bonan CAIXA Cultural
Renato Rezende São Paulo
Bonan, Amanda; Rezende, Renato (orgs.)
Flávio de Carvalho Expedicionário
Rio de Janeiro: Editora Circuito, 2017 (co-ed.).
ISBN: 978-85-9582-017-3
I. Arte brasileira . 2. Arte contemporânea. 3. Flávio de
Carvalho I. Costa da Mata, Larissa II. Maia, Ana Maria
III. Rezende, Renato IV. Stigger, Veronica
NEMUS OU ALGUMAS NOTAS
SOBRE A GENEALOGIA DA ARTE
Larissa Costa da Mata
Na legenda original,
lê-se: “Quadro
de cerimônia
propiciatória, onde
a árvore substitui
o pênis nas suas
funções. Vemos a
chuva benéfica e
fertilizadora,
resultado do contato
do pênis (árvore) com
o céu ou mulher. No
chão, um homem ereto
exibe o seu desejo
sexual a uma mulher
em atitude de coito.
(Fotos da Expedição
Frobenius à África).”
Flávio de Carvalho, O
mecanismo da emoção
amorosa (1934-1952),
p. 172.
Já entre 1957 e 1958, na série do mundo perdido,
publicada no Diário de S. Paulo, o artista inverte a lógica de
que a floresta poderia ser considerada uma prefiguração
da origem – existente, por exemplo, na literatura do
modernismo brasileiro e na filosofia de Hermann von
Keyserling – propondo o presente e a cidade de Roma
como pontos de partida para a sua reflexão sobre a estética.
Não fortuitamente, como nos indica o título de sua primeira
parte, essa série começou a ser gestada quando o artista
brasileiro seguira, em meados de 1956, para a capital italiana
com o intuito de desfilar o seu traje de verão masculino, o
New Look, e realizar uma exibição de pintura na Galeria
L’Obelisco.10 Como percebe-se nessa série, para Carvalho,
a estética consistiria numa abertura na ordem do visível
e num construto de sensações, memórias e sintomas
arcaicos da espécie que se revela nas formas da arte, nos
comportamentos e nos gestos humanos e das esculturas.
A floresta do mundo perdido traduz-se no momento
antigo de nascimento do culto à árvore e ao herói, mas
também na instância em que as formas vegetais, vivas, se
ramificam e se transformam em templos, construídos por
troncos, que ressurgem nas cidades com o apelo telúrico das
estéticas do gótico e do barroco. Em “A floresta e o Gótico”,11
o oitavo texto da série, Carvalho define o gótico como uma
“reversão filogênica dos antigos santuários da floresta”. Para
ele, esse período da arte é o que melhor “representa a fusão
da vida vegetal e animal da floresta”, ao passo que o barroco
se torna a forma de expressão característica da cidade, ou
seja, da atualidade do autor. O gótico remete, ainda, aos
diversos exemplos de cerimônias da fertilidade trazidos pela
antropologia e de celebrações da primavera, como a da
encenação do encontro entre Dioniso – o primeiro herói e o
primeiro ator – e a ninfa Ariadne:
126-127
1 BATAILLE, Georges. 9 Os mitos foram transcritos 19 ANTELO, Raúl. “Só 28 EINSTEIN, Carl. Negerplastik
“Le langage des fleurs”. In: a partir do volume especial da centros: elipses”. In: Chuy. (escultura negra). Organização
Documents. Paris, n. 3, pp. 160- revista Cahiers d’Art, dedicado à Revista de Estudios Literarios de Liliane Meffre. Tradução de
164, 1929. expedição de Frobeius: “L’Afrique Latinoamericanos. Buenos Aires, Fernando Scheibe e de Inês de
para Leo Frobenius et Henri Beuil”. ano 1, n. 1, pp. 3-15, jul. 2014, Araújo. Florianópolis: Universidade
2 CAILLOIS, Roger. Méduse et Cahiers d’Art, Paris, 5 année, n. p. 3. Federal de Santa Catarina, 2011,
cie. Paris: Gallimard, 1960. 8-9, 1930. pp. 39-40.
20 DOBRIZHOFFER, Martin.
3 EINSTEIN, Carl. “Arbres- 10 STIGGER, Veronica. An Account of the Abipones, An
fétiches du Bénin (1929)”. In: “Flávio de Carvalho: experiências Equestrian People of Paraguay.
______. Les arts de l’Afrique. romanas”. In: Marcelina. Revista London: John Murray, 1822. v. II.
Apresentação e tradução de do Mestrado em Artes Visuais da
Liliane Meffre. Legendas das obras Faculdade Santa Marcelina. Ano 21 DELEUZE, Gilles; GUATTARI,
e notas por Jean-Louis Paudrat. 3, v. 4 (1ª sem. 2010). São Paulo: Felix. Mil platôs: capitalismo e
Paris: Actes Sud, 2015, p. 279. FASM, 2010, pp. 109-128. esquizofrenia. Tradução de Peter
Pal Pelbart. São Paulo: 34, 2005,
4 CARVALHO, Flávio de. O 11 CARVALHO, Flávio de. “VIII - v. 5.
mecanismo da emoção amorosa Os gatos de Roma. A floresta e o
(1934-1952). Datiloscrito inédito. Gótico”. In: Diário de S. Paulo, São 22 Cf. o filósofo alemão
Paulo, 24 fev. 1957. Hermann Graf Keyserling, para
5 O ramo de ouro tornara- quem a árvore genealógica
se conhecido por Flávio de 12 Idem. representa a força telúrica que liga
Carvalho em sua versão o homem à terra. Haveria, ainda,
abreviada (FRAZER, James. 13 CARVALHO, Flávio de. “III um vínculo entre os laços puros
The Golden Bough. A Study in – Os gatos de Roma. As feridas de sangue, a criação de novos
Magic and Religion. London: abertas da arqueologia. O europeu laços familiares (a mescla) e a
Macmillan, 1933). Na sua quer a guerra”. In: Diário de S. defesa das fronteiras territoriais,
biblioteca, localizada no Centro de Paulo, São Paulo, 20 jan. 1957. segundo ele, em suas Meditações
Documentação Cultural Alexandre sul-americanas (KEYSERLING,
Eulálio (CEDAE), da Unicamp, 14 DUQUE, Félix. El cofre de Hermann Graf. Meditaciones
atualmente encontramos esse la nada. Deriva del nihilismo en sudamericanas. Traducción de
volume e Origens da família e la modernidad. Madrid: Abada Luis López-Ballesteros y de Torres.
do clã, em tradução francesa Editores, 2006. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1933).
(FRAZER, James. Les origines
de la famille et du clan. Tradução 15 HEIDEGGER, Martin. 23 HEIDEGGER, Martin.
francesa por Jean de Pange. Paris: Caminhos de floresta. Caminhos de floresta, op. cit., p.
Paul Geuthner, 1922). Coordenação científica da edição 40.
e tradução: Irene Borges Duarte.
6 CARVALHO, Flávio de. “A Lisboa: Fundação Calouste 24 CARVALHO, Flávio de. “VIII -
única arte que presta é a anormal Gulbenkian, 1998, p. 313. Os gatos de Roma. A floresta e o
(1936)”. In: Flávio de Carvalho: Gótico.” In: Diário de S. Paulo, São
100 anos de um revolucionário 16 GROYS, Boris. Introdução Paulo, 24 fev. 1957.
romântico. Curadoria de Denise à antifilosofia. Tradução de
Mattar. Rio de Janeiro: CCBB/ Constantino Luz de Medeiros. São 25 CARVALHO, Flávio de.
MAB-FAAP, 1999, pp. 71-73. Paulo: Edipro, 2013. “IX – Os gatos de Roma. A
simulação, a floresta e o primeiro
7 Publicada originalmente 17 KLEIN, Ernest. A temperamento. A descida da
no Diário de S. Paulo e, Comprehensive Etymological árvore.” In: Diário de S. Paulo, São
posteriormente, reunida pela Dictionary of the English Paulo, 3 mar. 1957.
editora Azougue. CARVALHO, Language. Dealing with the
Flávio de. A moda e o novo Origin of Words and their Sense 26 MEFFRE, Liliane. “Carl
homem. Org. Sergio Cohn e Heyk Development thus Illustrating the Einstein et l’Afrique”. In: EINSTEIN,
Pimenta. Rio de Janeiro: Azougue History of Civilization and Culture. Carl. Les arts de l’Afrique.
Editorial, 2010. Amsterdam, London, New York: Apresentação e tradução de
Elsevier Publishing Company, Liliane Meffre. Legendas das obras
8 Essa série, composta por 65 1967 (V. II – L-Z), p. 1584 Tradução e notas por Jean-Louis Paudrat.
textos, se intitula, inicialmente, “Os nossa. Paris: Actes Sud, 2015, pp. 7-14.
gatos de Roma” (do número I ao
XXIV) e, a partir do número XXIV, 18 DIDI-HUBERMAN, Georges. 27 EINSTEIN, Carl. “Masques
“Notas para a reconstrução de um Atlas. Como llevar el mundo a Bapindi”. In: ______. Les arts de
mundo perdido” (até o número cuestas? Madrid: Museo de Arte l’Afrique, op. cit., p. 290. Tradução
LXV), publicados no Diário de S. Contemporaneo Reina Sofia, 2010. nossa.
Paulo entre 6 de janeiro de 1957 e
21 de setembro de 1958.
by a single institution, the “research in TV Continental station, in Rio NEMUS OR SOME NOTES ON a phallic symbol, worshiped as part
centre” (See CARVALHO, Flávio de Janeiro, it was only used by TV THE GENEALOGY OF ART of the cult of fertility.4
de. “Uma tese curiosa”. In: MAIA, Tupi, in São Paulo, in 1959. Larissa Costa da Mata In 1890, Scottish
Ana Maria; REZENDE, Renato anthropologist Sir James Frazer,
(eds.). Flávio de Carvalho. Coleção 31 The newspaper Diário da N From an examination of the from the English social school,
Encontros. Rio de Janeiro: Editora oite published news stories such Teutonic words for ‘temple’ published the first edition of his
Azougue, 2015, pp. 32–41). as “Flávio de Carvalho gives up Grimm has made it probable that book The Golden Bough, formed
his petticoat and travels to the Rio amongst the Germans the oldest by no less than twelve volumes
23 CARVALHO, Flávio de. “Autor Negro region to film the indians” sanctuaries were natural woods. discussing the rituals of celebration
aponta”. In Cohn, Sergio; Pimenta, (March 4, 1958) and “Flávio de However this may be, tree-worship of Spring and plant gods (such as
Heyk (eds.). A moda e novo Carvalho looks for a blonde to star is well attested for all the great Dionysus and Persephone, among
homem. Rio de Janeiro: Editora in ‘Deusa Umbelina’” (April 28, European families of the Aryan others) in many different cultures,
Azougue, 2010, p. 13. 1958); Diário de Notícias published stock. Amongst the Celts the oak- whether in the African and Oceanic
“Flávio de Carvalho: returns from worship of the Druids is familiar to tribes or in Greco-Roman antiquity.
24 CARVALHO, Flávio de. “Nova the indians” (November 19, 1958); every one, and their old word for a The brief reflection in this text is
moda para o novo homem - moda in Folha da Manhã, “The Amazon sanctuary seems to be identical in based precisely on the aspects
de verão para a cidade”. Diário region is no ‘green hell’; the only origin and meaning with the Latin pointed out by his etymological
de S. Paulo, São Paulo, June 24, beasts I saw there are from the nemus, a grove or woodland glade, investigation of the word nemus,
1956. city” (December 5, 1958); O which still survives in the name of which corresponds, as we saw
Globo published “He was looking Nemi. Sacred groves were common in the epigraph, to a dubious
25 Christian Dior’s New Look for blond indians but only found among the ancient Germans, meaning, between the forest, the
was launched in 1947. It is the Shiriana” (November 24, and tree-worship is hardly extinct clearing and the temple, making its
characterised by a skirt falling 1958); Jornal da Bahia reported amongst their descendants at the residual sense of worship emerge
below mid-calf length and a “Flávio de Carvalho returns from present day. (Sir James Frazer, in the origin of the image – a
wasp-waisted suit. It was seen as his adventures with the Shiriana The Golden Bough). double of the word.
a revolution in postwar women’s indians.” The number of articles As is well known,
attire. about that trip is huge and quite As we know, the Flávio de Carvalho was very
diverse. The Flávio de Carvalho metaphor of plants is extremely knowledgeable about James
26 According to biographer J. fund, which has a newspaper rich, as we can see from its Frazer,5 who was mentioned in his
Toledo, “there were news trucks collection on the artist, keeps developments in aesthetics, in texts alongside Sigmund Freud,
from the incipient television, around 70 items related to the anthropological and historical Bronisław Malinowski and Leo
cinema, radio and almost all subject. (Toledo, J., 1994, p. 594). studies and in philosophy. There Frobenius, among others, in order
powerful newspapers of the are, for example, the photographs to reflect on his art within what he
capital, from Rio and even some 32 On November 22, 1958, the of flowers by Karl Blossfeldt, had called “psychoethnography”,
correspondents from the United Latin American edition of Time that so fascinated Georges a hybrid science that sought
States (Time Life), Argentina and magazine described the trip and Bataille, thanks to the power of to expose the wounds of the
Italy, who waited impatiently for published a short biography of Blossfeldt’s images in removing human psyche and carry out
the imponderable parade that Flávio de Carvalho in the text the symbolic character of the an investigation of aesthetics,
was to happen in the conservative “Playboy at Work” (See Idem). corollas of flowers – an element adopting the discoveries of
‘bandeirante capital.’ (See of purity – allowing something psychoanalysis as a method.6
TOLEDO, J., 1994, p. 561) of the order of putrefaction and Traces of this disciplinary hybridism
accident to emerge.1 Or even the can be found in all of his writings
27 LEITE, Rui Moreira, op. cit., insects studied by Roger Caillois, since the 1930s, such as O
2004, p. 3. Flávio wanted to edit practitioners of a mimicry that Mecanismo da emoção amorosa
a book about the subject, but sometimes turned them into dry [The Mechanism of Amorous
he passed away before having branches, grimly merging them Emotion] to the 1950s, like the
done so. The Azougue publishing into the landscape, sometimes series A moda e o novo homem
company compiled the texts of the denoting the terrifying face of [Fashion and the new man] (1956)7
column “A moda e o novo homem” a mask or of another animal.2 and Os gatos de Roma / Notas
[Fashion and the New Man] in Besides, it is worth mentioning para a reconstrução de um mundo
2010. Benin’s sculptures reproduced by perdido [The Cats of Rome / N
Carl Einstein in the Documents otes for the reconstruction of a
28 TOLEDO, J. 1994, p. 517. magazine, some of which consist lost world] (1957-1958).8 His
of “fetish-trees” represented in proximity with the English social
29 KAC, Eduardo. In: LEITE, Rui bronze as an indication of the school of anthropology enabled
Moreira, op. cit., 2004, p. 5. sophistication of the sculptural him to have a freer and more
methods employed by civilizations unruly interpretation of art, since
30 Idem. There is no video considered “primitive” by the he devoted himself to carrying out
recording of the action because in Europeans.3 And also the African an imaginative and poetic form
1956 the Tupi television station still myths illustrated by Flávio de of ethnology, contributing to the
did not use videotape equipment Carvalho in his unpublished book magical association of ideas from
to record live broadcasts. Although O mecanismo da emoção amorosa the cultures studied by Frazer.
that year the technology had [The Mechanism of the Amorous In his unpublished book
already been introduced in Brazil Emotion], which refer to the tree as O mecanismo da emoção amorosa
140-141
[The Mechanism of the Amorous one that best “represents the Maria Rilke’s death. It is worth that is, “to stretch by drawing,”
Emotion], originally about the fusion between plant and animal mentioning that in the belligerent by strength.17 This second
conference presented in Prague life forms of the forest”, while context of World War II, Heidegger etymological suggestion could
at the International Congress of the Baroque becomes a form of saw man as a subject destined also be thought of as a form of
Psychotechnique in 1934, Carvalho expression typical of cities, that is, to the word and open to the deterritorialised knowledge, as
finds in the legends gathered by of the author’s time. The Gothic advent of his own death, while were the lamb livers reproduced
Leo Frobenius during his African also refers to the many examples technology had deprived the world in Warburg’s Atlas Mnemosyne,
expedition,9 like that of Omoroca of fertility ceremonies brought of its sacred character. Then, which make us understand that
or the “woman-origin”, and in ritual by anthropology and to spring according to Félix Duque (2006), templum is also a doorway to the
ceremonies, the representation of celebrations, like the staging of the Heidegger saw a resemblance future, a fragment of space and
the tree as a symbol of virility, as meeting of Dionysus, the first hero between penury and need, since time simultaneously.18
opposed to uterine metaphors – and the first actor – with the nymph both constitute the subject as lack Now, in proposing that
that of the lake – and of the vagina. Ariadne. and as truth.14 For the German the origin be manifested in the flow
This is because, for the author, philosopher, penury was the very of the “primitive” nomad, Flávio
history is marked by moments […] The strange plant forms inability to understand the absence de Carvalho reinforces, as Raúl
of struggle between disparate inhabited by wonderful monsters, of God as lack, so that the mark of Antelo points out in “Só Centros:
elements, the male and female legendary beings and an endless the sacred, turned unrecognisable Elipses” (2014), a post-autonomic
powers, one of which would world, were memories of a time in by terror, could only be pursued perspective of modernity (and
predominate at different moments which the worship was practiced by poets. of modernisms), operating a
in history. in the forest among the howls of Literary creation displacement of the centres of the
Between 1957 and beasts and the song of birds, to the and aesthetics, as Heidegger globe and of thought, which has
1958, in the lost world series, sound of monotonous hymns and demonstrates, are situated in this as a consequence the mobilization
published in Diário de S. Paulo, cries of hysteria, at the fecundating crevice between heaven and earth of the periphery. This idea
the artist reversed the logic that festivals of spring and summer and or in the hollow bosom of space consists in reviewing a series of
the forest could be considered a during the worship of the Queen itself. This hiatus is the place and concepts favoured by the Brazilian
prefiguration of origin – existing, who lay on the altar, giving herself the moment in which the being modernists and by the modernist
for example, in the literature to the hero, before the enchanted is created with the extinction of critics. In this sense, Antelo
of Brazilian modernism and looks of spectators, to magically its authority when and where his situates Flávio de Carvalho next to
in the philosophy of Hermann ensure the fertility of the earth thought is transformed into poetry. another nomad intellectual just like
von Keyserling – proposing the and continuity of the species. “The poet thinks into the place that him, Clarice Lispector:
present and the city of Rome as Eventually the hero became the is determined from that illumination
departing points for his reflection shaman himself.12 of being which has been stamped […] Where Clarice says mirror,
on aesthetics. Not accidentally, as as the realm in which Western one should read centre, head.
the title of the first part of the series Therefore, for Flávio de metaphysics is fulfilled.”15 Thus, Modernism thought its flow
indicates, it began to be conceived Carvalho, the clearing is a place it would no longer be possible to from the centre. It attributed to it
when the Brazilian artist travelled for the emergence of several forms determine a priori criteria for the consistency, dynamism, duration,
to Rome in 1956 to parade wearing of art: architecture, the staging of creation and evaluation of works autonomy. It gave it the name of a
his Summer outfit for men, the New tragic theatre and poetry. Referring of art, conditions that would find street, city, literature. The concepts
Look, and for an exhibition of his to a ritual that would seem devoid justification in a flattened structure of those who dominate, Benjamin
paintings at Galeria L’Obelisco.10 As of meaning in the present, the of time and History. Therefore, used to say, have always been
we see in this series, for Carvalho, clearing assumes many different the Heideggerian clearing would mirrors thanks to which the image
aesthetics was an opening at constitutions like pictures, the provide an open perspective to the of order was born. As we know,
the order of the visible and of a museum and the stage, heralding future.16 from the Cartesian cogito, a strong
construct of archaic sensations, the beginning of art without However, the art that dualism is imposed on the romantic
memories and symptoms of the divinity. In “As feridas abertas was born without its own soil with aesthetics: on the one hand, the
species that reveals itself in artistic da arqueologia. O europeu quer the withdrawal of the (divine) soul, confused with thought; on
forms, in behaviours and gestures a guerra” [The open wounds of foundation, does not do it without the other, the body, which is pure
of humans and sculptures. archaeology. The European wants regretting loss, without seeking movement. This kind of literature in
The forest of the lost war], another text of the series, to reproduce the image of this search of souls to dissect, smash
world translates into the ancient we see that the war impulse that theological essence. If, in fact, and catalog, is extremely common
time of birth of the worship of moved the old continent would we verify the etymology of the under literary autonomy.19
trees and heroes, but also in the be transmuted into the lacerated word nemus (temple or clearing) This displacement
instance in which living plant forms images of the body of Christ by proposed by Grimm, we will see of the centre also belongs to a
branched out and became temples, art, signs of an impulse founded that term certainly evokes a wide subversion of the chronological
made up of tree trunks, that on history, also expressed in the space, from where it should be order in the case of Flávio de
reappear in cities with the telluric advent of empires such as the possible to visualise the firmament, Carvalho, so that the artist will
appeal of the aesthetics of the Roman empire and totalitarian since it is destined to the worship understand the aesthetic emotion
Gothic and the Baroque styles. In States.13 of the gods. Besides, temple, as a gap revealing a submerged
“A Floresta e o Gótico” [The Forest In 1946, Martin “an open space marked out by layer of time, just as the primitive
and the Gothic],11 the eighth text Heidegger anticipated some of the augur for the observation of would dissociate itself, for him,
of the series, Carvalho defines the Flávio de Carvalho’s conclusions the sky, consecrated place”, also from the notion of genesis.
Gothic as a “phylogenetic reversion in his text “What Are Poets For?” derives from temp, “to stretch, The temple can
of the old forest sanctuaries”. For written on the occasion of the strain, extend”, whence also the therefore be expanded through
him, this period of art is the twentieth anniversary of Rainer Lithuanian term Tempiù, tempti, a march, as the “primitive” of
Flávio de Carvalho would do in In addition, it is no imagination (rather than the However, in a counter-revolutionary
his faltering walk after abandoning coincidence that the temples visible) in art, concealed by the reading, he shows that the
the tree, his first abode. In fact, of Antiquity were built so as to veil of dreams in the forest of the organic is always composed of
one of the few indigenous peoples integrate a view of the sky, the lost world, just as in his drawings inorganicity (and vice-versa), of
mentioned in the “Notes for the landscape and vegetation, like the eyes of human figures are a portion of the negative of itself.
reconstruction of a lost world”, the Partenon and the Erecteion pierced and torn by lines of force. This negative element should
the Abipones, is nomadic, as of Athens, both situated on hills, The clearing frees the work and not be understood only as an
can be seen in An Account of the above the horizon. A similar the subject to interpretation, a opposite of itself, but as a refusal
Abipones, an Equestrian People architecture is manifested in notion that involves different to assume a single form, a power
of Paraguay (1822), by Austrian museums, that emerge in the late possibilities of reading and that results from the conflict
missionary Martin Dobrizhofer. 19th century following a structure reproduction of the gestures of between oppositions, as well as
Dobrizhoffer explains that the similar to that of the temple, using others. Thus, the Brazilian artist from another time that pulsates,
South American people that the mimesis of divinity. Therefore, finds, within the forest, the scenery hidden by its own appearance. For
inhabited, among other places, the authenticity of the work of art and condition necessary for the this reason, the forest and the city,
the Chaco peninsula, was often and its revelation of a transient emergence of fiction, art – dance, the “transcendental” Gothic and
persecuted by the Spaniards and truth is due to what it shares with singing, drawing and theatre. the lustful Baroque, men and work,
therefore wandered extensively the temple: the power to make a The interpretation is thought walk together and refuse to allow
in all territories, whenever they god known and of not reflecting by Flávio de Carvalho through the stability of matter.
had the opportunity to attack their an event, a model, but of being the comprehensive notion of German art historian
enemies or to avoid them, crossing the expression of a vision of the simulation, a characteristic that Carl Einstein had a lot in common
valleys and lakes, unstable invisible: made up the poetic even before the with Flávio de Carvalho, namely
surfaces, generally favourable to distinction between sobbing and an anarchist political leaning
escape.20 Standing there, the temple first singing, between song and poetry: and an interest in African plastic
It should be pointed out gives to things their look, and to language as a way to subvert
that the organization around trees men their outlook on themselves. The Hero was the animistic saviour the symbolic link between the
is not necessarily a characteristic This view remains open as long as of man and his worship took place sign and its meaning, the very
of the forest, as it resists in cities, the work is a work, as long as the in the forest, following the ancient thing Carl Einstein considered a
in States, as a way to celebrate god has not fled from it. So it is, too, connection between man and “dictatorship of the visible” imposed
the origin, inasmuch as – as with the sculpture of the god which tree, the hysterical is the eternal on art. Moreover, like the Brazilian
psychoanalysis and philosophy the victor of the athletic games actor that will show the world the intellectual, Carl collected African
attest – the tree harboured the dedicates to him. The work is not a importance of lies in the creation of myths and legends, many of which
spirit of the ancestors of the tribe portrait intended to make it easier to Homo Socius, hysterical simulation were taken from the work of Leo
and of the founders of empires recognize what the god looks like. became the most important Frobenius, which, according Liliane
such as the Roman. As such, It is, rather, a work which allows feature of Theatre and found in the Meffre, were inseparable from the
it refers to the emergence of the god himself to presence and is, forest its shelter par excellence. interpretation of the plastic work in
institutions (the Forum and the therefore, the god himself.23 A sleeping Man dreaming is the his writings.26 Either in Negerplastik
Law, the ground zero) and to being in an ideal state of freedom [Negro Sculpture] and in African
the establishment of organs of As Flávio de Carvalho through which all anguish can Sculpture, or in a text published
power. Rising always toward reminds us, it is a consensus be overcome; it is the plant-man in Documents, a magazine he
the firmament, the tree seeks to among art critics to recognise in who contemplates his future. The co-founded, Carl Einstein was
reach the temple on the hilltop, the gothic a form of manifestation forest already presented in itself interested in the magic potential
so it becomes a synonym of of transcendence in architecture, the appropriate dramatic conditions of African aesthetics, which had
mourning for the past, opposing which can also be seen in temples for the dispersion of images emerged mainly from the need
the movement of the nomad which and museums. Now, Flávio de (asyntaxia) found in the dream to worship the dead, who were
extends, in turn, towards territories Carvalho perceives and refuses the and in the conduct of the Hero. evoked through statues, masks and
with open borders without fact that one of the many possible The play of light and shadow in through the notion of image-soul:
conforming to regulations. In this alternatives for architecture to semi-clarity, the nebula-like shape, “In African art, the notion of
sense, for Gilles Deleuze and Félix coexist with the landscape, on were the appropriate conditions to soul-shadow is very important.
Guattari (2005), the arborescent the one hand, and with paradise, hide shapes and simulate desires, Perhaps there is a relation
model, that of the State, contrasts on the other, is to reach almost and appropriate for the creation of between the graphic style of this
with the rhizomatic one, belonging insurmountable heights to get agglutinations of tree-men, of plant- art and representation of the soul-
to the nomad who seeks, in a closer to the divine. However, his animals, found in primitive Man’s shadow.”27
different way, to occupy a smooth interpretation of these heights is dreams and thoughts, that merged In Negerplastik [Negro
space, that is, a territory that is that Gothic churches are extended with one another.25 Sculpture], a study of African
not regulated by governmental in towers, seeking to expand into sculpture published in 1915, the
institutions, by disciplines, by a the smooth and unmeasurable With sketches of German intellectual regards African
fabricated homogeneity and by a space and thus transmute different human types from the sculptures as “images,” just like the
centralised unit.21 Therefore, the themselves into diverse shapes city and from the forest, Flávio de art of the renaissance or religious
arborescent model is based on such as plants, like that of the tree Carvalho refers to Keyserling’s art. When these sculptures are
hierarchies and family genealogies, in the forgotten history of the hero considerations about the people of transposed from their environment
which enroots Man to the ground worship.24 the new world in South American (unknown to collectors, but
and coincide with a nostalgia for The clearing was the Meditations, seeking to subject the evidenced by the ethnographic
origin.22 element found by Carvalho to development of man to the very collections of museums), they
affirm the predominance of the transmutation of the landscape. become images of a nonexistent
142-143
god and therefore make evident the The artist becomes, in this sense, 1 BATAILLE, Georges. de S. Paulo between January 6,
trace left by him. The reproductions a passive being, insofar as he is “Le langage des fleurs”. In: 1957, and September 21, 1958.
of sculptures, such as arranged the one who opens the doors for Documents. Paris, No. 3, pp.
in Negerplastik, are devoid of the access of being, according 160–64, 1929. 9 The myths were transcribed
accessories and displaced from to Martin Heidegger. Therefore, from the special volume of the
the temple, but do not eliminate reproducing a transcendental will, 2 CAILLOIS, Roger. Méduse et magazine Cahiers d’Art dedicated
the transcendence supposed by in the case of primitive art, does cie. Paris: Gallimard, 1960. to Frobenius’s expedition: “L’Afrique
the tribal religion to which they not mean to merely appropriate par Leo Frobenius et Henri Beuil”.
belong, for in them mythical reality the divine desire, or use it as 3 EINSTEIN, Carl. “Arbres- Cahiers d’Art, Paris, 5 année, n.
surpasses the natural reality: truth – values that would imply fétiches du Bénin (1929) ”. In: 8-9, 1930.
the authority of the executor, a ______. Les arts de l’Afrique.
African art is above all determined notion of authorship as auctoritas Presentation and translation by 10 STIGGER, Veronica. “Flávio
by religion. Sculpted work is –, but to blur the first name of the Liliane Meffre. Subtitles of works de Carvalho: experiências
venerated as it was by the people author in favour of an absolute and notes by Jean-Louis Paudrat. romanas”. In: Marcelina. Revista
of antiquity. The maker fashions his immanence. It is worth noting that Paris: Actes Sud, 2015, p. 279. do Mestrado em Artes Visuais da
work as if it were the divine or its Flávio de Carvalho was interested Faculdade Santa Marcelina. Ano
guardian, which is to say that from in the oak-worship of the Druids 4 CARVALHO, Flávio de. 3, vol. 4 (1 sem. 2010). São Paulo:
the very beginning he is situated and of oak nymphs such as Egeria. O mecanismo da emoção FASM, 2010, Pp. 109–28.
at a distance from the work, which In this way, he misrepresents his amorosa (1934–52). Unpublished
is a god or its container. His work own surname (carvalho means typewritten text. 11 CARVALHO, Flávio de. “VIII -
is adoration at a distance, and oak, in Portuguese) and his family Os gatos de Roma. A floresta e o
so the work is a priori something genealogy, turning his surname 5 Flávio de Carvalho became Gótico”. In: Diário de S. Paulo, São
autonomous, more powerful than into something which ceases to familiar with the short version of Paulo, Feb. 24, 1957.
its maker, particularly since he be a property of himself and of The Golden Bough (Frazer, James.
directs his entire intensity to the his ancestors. He thus evokes the The Golden Bough. A Study in 12 Idem.
work and thus as the weaker being characteristic undecidability of Magic and Religion. London:
he sacrifices himself to it. This work the origin of the sign, in which the Macmillan, 1933). In his library, 13 CARVALHO, Flávio de. “III
must be described as religious predominant meaning of the same located at CEDAE (Alexandre – Os gatos de Roma. As feridas
service. The work is a deity, free sound, the same word, had not yet Eulálio Centre for Cultural abertas da arqueologia. O europeu
and independent of everything been chosen. Documentation), Unicamp, one quer a guerra”. In: Diário de S.
else; both worker and worshipper The forest becomes can currently find this volume and Paulo, São Paulo, Jan. 20, 1957.
are at an immeasurable distance a manifestation of nihilism in a French translation of Origins of
from the work. The latter will never philosophy, which, after the Family and Clan (FRAZER, James. 14 DUQUE, Félix. El cofre de
be mixed up with human events verification of the death of God Les origines de la famille et du la nada. Deriva del nihilismo en
except as something powerful and and his oblivion by Carvalho, clan. la modernidad. Madrid: Abada
distanced. The transcendence of Einstein and Heidegger, allows French translation by Jean de Editores, 2006.
the work is tied to and presupposed the installation of men themselves Pange. Paris: Paul Geuthner,
by the religious. It is created in in the notion of becoming. Carl 1922). 15 HEIDEGGER, Martin. Off
adoration, in terror before God, a Einstein would have evoked in his the Beaten Track. Translated by
terror which is also its effect. The writings the “primitive” as a force 6 CARVALHO, Flávio de. “A Julian Young and Kenneth Haynes.
maker and the worshipper are a capable of subverting the prevailing única arte que presta é a anormal Cambridge: Cambridge University
priori spiritual, which is essentially political and economic order, while (1936)”. In: Flávio de Carvalho. Press, 2002, p. 203.
identical; the effect lies not in the he would think images through 100 anos de um revolucionário
art work but in the posited and a notion of “absolute”, a concept romântico. Curated by Denise 16 GROYS, Boris. Introdução
undisputed godliness. The artist inspired by Soviet politics, and Mattar. Rio de Janeiro: CCBB/ à antifilosofia. Translated by
does not dare compete with God in through the need for a concrete MAB-FAAP, 1999, pp. 71–3. Constantino Luz de Medeiros. São
striving for an effect, this is a sure individual experience. In turn, the Paulo: Edipro, 2013.
given and predetermined. There is Brazilian artist refutes the line of 7 Originally published in Diário
no point in striving to treat the art heredity and sacrifices the figure de S. Paulo and later collected by 17 KLEIN, Ernest. A
work as trying for an effect, since of the hero, so that sign and image the Azougue publishing house. Comprehensive Etymological
the idols are often worshipped in open themselves to an art that CARVALHO, Flávio de. A moda e Dictionary of the English
darkness.28 finds in the body of man a way to o novo homem. Ed. Sergio Cohn Language. Dealing with the
preserve time and memory. This and Heyk Pimenta. Rio de Janeiro: Origin of Words and their Sense
When worship is because the language of art Azougue Editorial, 2010. Development thus Illustrating the
becomes the outstanding value, can have a distinct form, without History of Civilization and Culture.
the artist ceases to be determinant sonority and without names, very 8 The series, consisting of Amsterdam, London, New York:
in the execution of the work, similar to the language of gestures, 65 texts, was initially entitled Elsevier Publishing Company, 1967
because he only manifests a will in which the artist later became “Os gatos de Roma” [The cats (V. II – L-Z), p. 1584.
that is not his own, but of a force so intensely interested, as we can of Rome] (from number I to
that is immanent to him and shared infer from his performances and XXIV) and, from XXIV, “Notas 18 DIDI-HUBERMAN, Georges.
with other beings; he is no less experiments. para a reconstrução de um Atlas. Como llevar el mundo a
important than the figure of the mundo perdido” [Notes for the cuestas? Madrid: Museo de Arte
spectator into which he may come reconstruction of a lost world] (until Contemporaneo Reina Sofia, 2010.
to metamorphose himself. number LXV), published in Diário
19 ANTELO, Raúl. “Só centros: 28 EINSTEIN, Carl. Negro
elipses”. Chuy. Revista de Estudios Sculpture. Translated by Patrick
Literarios Latinoamericanos. Healy. CITY: November Editions,
Buenos Aires, year 1, No. 1, pp. 2016, p. 15.
3–15, July 2014, p. 3.
20 DOBRIZHOFFER, Martin.
An Account of the Abipones, An
Equestrian People of Paraguay.
London: John Murray, 1822. vol. II.
144-145
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