The best Brazilian painter, the less Brazilian of the painters: Pedro Américo between art, science and another national

• Grant number: 13/15812-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: November 01, 2013
• End date: August 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Plastic Arts
• Principal Investigator: Domingos Tadeu Chiarelli
• Grantee: Fabio D'Almeida Lima Maciel
• Host Institution: Escola de Comunicações e Artes (ECA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 14/07870-3 - 'Le plus grand peintre brésilien, le moins brésilien des peintres': Pedro Américo entre l'art, la science et la politique, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

This Doctoral Project aims to study artistic, literary and philosophical productions of Pedro Américo de Figueiredo e Melo. It chooses this artist as a case study to understand his production in relation to discussions about science, culture and arts during Brazilian Second Empire. The project also takes the case of this artist to understand the reception and reworking of Belgian and Dutch painting traditions in Brazilian nineteenth century art, taking as privileged stage the productions supported by the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro and by its agents. The main hypothesis for this project relies on the fact that the production of Américo (one of the first Brazilian doctors in Natural Sciences) is linked to the idea of art as a scientific report, which cannot be separated from the observation of natural phenomena, the participation of artist as a synthesizer of these phenomena, and from the stipulation of a rigorous method for the development of the work of art. Although secondary, another subordinate hypothesis is that the recognition of a lack of "Brazilianness" in Américo's paintings (made by some of his contemporaries) is in direct relation to the artist's effort to affirm himself "universal". It is emphasized that the study of various scientific, philosophical and literary texts written by Pedro Américo (one of the central objects for this study) remains unexplored in Brazilian studies, and it presents as an important source for writing the history of Brazilian art nineteenth century. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

MACIEL, Fabio D'Almeida Lima. O jovem Pedro Américo entre arte, ciência do belo e um outro nacional. 2016. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Comunicações e Artes (ECA/SBD) São Paulo.