Artwork Titles as Historical Markers: From Anita Malfatti to Modesto Brocos

The original titles of artworks can reveal significant shifts in artistic intent and historical reception. Anita Malfatti's 1917 painting, now known as "Tropical" and held by the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, was initially called "Negra baiana." This change reflects an oscillation between a naturalist/nationalist portrait and an allegory of tropical regions, mirroring São Paulo modernism's dual demands. Similarly, Modesto Brocos's 1895 painting "A redenção de Cã," which won a gold medal at Rio de Janeiro's Exposição Geral de Belas Artes and is in the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, was originally referred to by critic Arthur Azevedo as "A evolução." This earlier title explicitly framed the work, depicting a Black grandmother, her mixed-race daughter, a white European son-in-law, and their fair-skinned child, as advocating racial mixing for societal "evolution" and whitening. The shift to a biblical title, referencing the curse of Ham (Cã), cloaked this scientific racial ideology in moralizing, exemplary art tradition to gain acceptance from the conservative Escola Nacional de Belas Artes. These titular changes underscore how artworks like Brocos's, which practically inaugurated a niche addressing racial issues in Brazilian erudite art, were shaped by institutional pressures and intellectual debates of their time.