Manuel Querino's 1911 Art History Reissued, Sparking Debate on European Methodologies in Brazilian Context

A 2018 facsimile edition of Manuel Querino's 1911 book 'Artistas Baianos' was published by the Comissão de Cultura da Câmara Municipal de Salvador, renewing scholarly interest in this foundational Afro-Brazilian art historian. Querino, who died in Salvador in 1923, compiled biographical notes on Bahian artists from the colonial period to the early Republic. His work is frequently compared to that of Giorgio Vasari, the 16th-century Italian author of 'Lives of the Artists', for its biographical approach. However, scholars like Eliane Nunes and Luiz Alberto R. Freire note key differences: Querino adopted a more encyclopedic, inclusive method, cataloging artisans and 'mechanical' arts alongside 'liberal' arts like painting and sculpture, unlike Vasari's hierarchical aesthetic judgments. This adaptation is seen as a necessary response to Salvador's complex social reality, marked by slavery, medieval guild systems, and the late introduction of art academies. Monteiro Lobato's 1917 review in the Revista do Brasil highlighted Querino's Afro-Brazilian identity and the six-year delay for the book to reach São Paulo, a disparity in Brazil's editorial circuit that the author suggests persists. The reissue prompts a critical re-evaluation of Querino's attempt to apply European art historical models, particularly Vasari's narrative of artistic progress and decline, to a context where racial hierarchies and artisanal labor blurred traditional categories.