Tarsila do Amaral's Drawings Collection at Fundação Marcos Amaro Reveals Peculiar Artistic Journey

The collection of 203 drawings by Tarsila do Amaral acquired by Fundação Marcos Amaro highlights a peculiar trajectory in her career. Only seven works were produced after 1930, despite her active production until 1970, with the artist passing away in 1973. This concentration on early years raises questions about her later output. Curator Aracy Amaral selected these drawings for Tarsila's 1969 retrospective at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, possibly choosing only what she considered the artist's best work. Scholars like Regina Teixeira de Barros have noted the decline in quality during Tarsila's final decades. The collection includes significant pieces from her initiation with Pedro Alexandrino in the late 1910s, delicate early works, and incisive drawings from 1923 onward influenced by 'primitive' art, photography, and advertising imagery. Key works include a 1923 self-portrait and non-figurative studies from 1923 and 1925. The collection is now publicly accessible at Fábrica de Arte Marcos Amaro (FAMA Museu) in Itu, São Paulo, with an exhibition opening on March 14. This access allows for a deeper understanding of Tarsila's role in Brazilian art during the first half of the 20th century, after the drawings were hidden in a private collection for fifty years.