Analysis of O lavrador de café, by Candido Portinari
Or coffee washer, by Candido Portinari, is one of the most representative canvases of the artist, because it is considered a portrait of a Brazilian worker, overcoat or rural.
The theme of the cafezal and reminiscent of the artistic costume of Portinari, pois elect a concern in exhibiting the Brazilian realities, giving focus to or povo and suas mazelas. Além disso, or artist growing on a coffee plantation, where his country, Italian immigrants, trabalhavam.
Assim, Portinari produced in 1934 a shocking image of a black homem securing an enxada in front of a lavoura cafeeira.
A painting, an oil on canvas, with dimensions of 100 x 81 x 2.5 cm and can be seen without MASP (Museu de Arte de São Paulo)
Detailed analysis of the work
There are many details about this dinner that traces valuable reflections on the historical moment that Brazil goes through and way as a painter in the realities of the country.
We can consider the figure portrayed as a symbol of the home of the field that works on a land that does not He is his, selling his labor force for the large estate donor, not the case of a farmer and business owner coffee.
It is possible to understand the social character of Portinari's work by analyzing the images produced by them. Além disso, o fato of the artist I have been a homem quite committed to Luta equally, being even a member of Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) and candidate for deputy senator in the 1940s, is another strong indicator of seriousness purposes.
No context in which the cloth was painted, or Brazil produced coffee on a large scale for exportation, and, despite crise 1929 was impacted or the Brazilian market, the production was still quite lucrative for the barões do coffee.
In the meantime, the people who have planted the grãos lived in precarious conditions. The artist reveals the intention of denouncing and valuing the human figure by means of some outstanding elements in the image to follow.
1. You are so disproportionate
Candido Portinari exhibits a strong home that takes all the composition of the fabric. Your condolences are portrayed in an exaggeratedly large way.
Such a resource is normally associated with expressionist influences e transmits to us the idea that you pés e as mãos são fortes e responsáveis pelo braçal work.
O homem I did not wear shoes and that is another indication of the precarious situation to which you are subject to.
2. A tree vine
On the direct side of home there is a cut log. Or element in the first moment can pass away, in the meantime, it was not placed at dinner just as part of the composition.
A given interpretation is that the cut tree appears as um symbol of dismantlement, that ja dava sinais worrying no country. In this way, there is evidence of a contradiction between the abundance of a plantation with thousands of trees and the increasing destruction of native bushes.
3. O trem de ferro e a plantação
Portinari included no frame of rail with four wagons that cuts across the landscape diagonally, releasing smoke from the chaminé.
O trem era o meio de transport mais used no country and where it was feito or escoamento da produção cafeeira. In the 1930s, the period in which the painting was painted, began to have a process of moving to the bad railway, which in the 40s saw a decline.
4. To expressão do homem
Or little guy, um face with worried feição e sad. We can say that he has been upset about him. His countenance seems to reveal frustration and fatigue from work, as well as indicating that the worker was not alienated about the injustices and inequalities that he was subject to.
In the light that falls on the dinner I see the skeleton song, for where or home, it is turned in profile. This resource makes it possible to illuminate the face, which exhibits thick lips and a long nose.
5. O céu cheio de nuvens
Or ceu painted by Portinari or on a common day, with voluminous nuvens that shake not blue.
Near a terço da composition is formed hair ceu e Portinari tinha with the intention of valuing or human being. Assim, or contrast entre o homem de pele escura e o céu com nuvens brancas facilitates observation do face do subject.
6. To enxada
Or a portrait of a homemaker and a non-local baby in which the work is going to a greater part of its time. Or little guy poses for dinner, making sure that he is carrying out the enxada, that he or she is his instrument of work. In the meantime, here it works as a support for or rest.
A enxada is shown quase as uma extension two arms do trabalhador, also exhibiting vigorous traços. Furthermore, we can notice the shadow attached that evidences the incident of light coming from the scene for a direct, also shown in the home shirt.
Or little guy behind the lavrador
O homem that deu origin to figure do quadro Or coffee washer It really existed and posed for Candido Portinari in other works too. My name was Nilton Rodrigues.
Confire this section of a reportagem feita for the Globe Reporter in 1980 in which Nilton was interviewed. Despite the quality of the video, it is possible to see the semi-circle between the painted window, not the picture or home.
What was Candido Portinari and how important is him?
Born in the interior of São Paulo, born in the city of Brodowski in 1903, Candido Torquato Portinari found an art to express His ideas and ideas about Brazil, becoming an essential figure for Brazilian art, especially within the movement modernist.
In the first phase of his career, mainly, the artist is committed to portraying the types of Brazilians, giving a phase to simple and trying to create a national art, even inspired by European vanguard.
Together with other artists of the period, he helped to build a modern country portrait, taking into consideration the particularities of a miscigene and diverse population. Assim, Or coffee washer It is a few works in which such intentions were revealed with clarity.
There is still a dramatic phase of the artist, exhibited in works such as Retirees (1944) e Criança Morta (1944). But his work also exhibits a lyrical and nostalgic facet, with paintings that portray simplicity and childhood, such as canvases. Futebol (1935) e Meninos no balanço (1960).
Portinari was two artists of the highest national and international recognition, holding exhibitions for the world and receiving awards and honorable mentions to the USA, France and Poland.
In the fifties he was invited to carry out two great paintings to integrate the UN headquarters, in New York, or work and entitled War and Peace (1953-1956) and was considered the artist as his work-first.
In 1962, Portinari died aged 58, victim of health problems caused by intoxication of the prickly pear present with the inks that he used to work.
To find out more about Portinari's incredible work, read:
- Quadro Retirantes, by Candido Portinari
- Candido Portinari: top 10 works analyzed
- Life and work of Candido Portinari
