Anita Malfatti's 1922 Drawing 'Grupo dos Cinco' Reveals Modernist Friendships and Divergences

Anita Malfatti's 1922 drawing 'Grupo dos Cinco' depicts five key São Paulo modernists—Malfatti herself, Tarsila do Amaral, Mário de Andrade, Menotti Del Picchia, and Oswald de Andrade—in Tarsila's studio shortly after the Semana de Arte Moderna. The work's delicate, synthetic style marks a departure from Malfatti's earlier avant-garde experiments, aligning instead with the international 'Retorno à Ordem' movement. A contrasting 1922 text by Helios (Menotti Del Picchia's pseudonym) describes a similar gathering in the same studio with a decadent, ornate tone, highlighting differing aesthetic sensibilities within the group. The drawing, now held by the Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros da USP, symbolizes a brief period of camaraderie that soon fractured. Subsequent paths diverged sharply: Oswald de Andrade developed his Anthropophagic movement; Mário de Andrade embraced classical realism influenced by the French journal L'Esprit Nouveau; Tarsila do Amaral later pursued her Anthropophagic phase; Anita Malfatti faded from the São Paulo scene; and Menotti Del Picchia adhered to conservative nationalism. The text reflects on the melancholic later lives of these pioneers, with Malfatti and Tarsila experiencing professional decline, Mário de Andrade dying isolated, and Oswald de Andrade facing financial ruin.