In 1957, Tarsila do Amaral signed a dedication – and perhaps two drawings? – in the catalogue of her major retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in São Paulo.
Dedication by Tarsila do Amaral to Renato Dobal on the first page of the catalogue of the December 1950 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
Some drawings on the back.
In Portuguese.
10 pages.
18.5 cm x 26.5 cm.
Sao Paulo, September 21, 1957.
In good condition of conservation.
Unique piece.
To Renato Dobal,
With love,
Tarsila
Sao Paulo, 21.9.1957
There is much to be said about Tarsila do Amaral, one of the most important Brazilian painters and a central figure in the modernist movement in Brazil. She is renowned for works such as "Abaporu" and "Antropofagia", which reflect the search for a Brazilian national identity through the arts. Even though I am not an expert, something that has always captured my attention in her work is her unique style, a feeling that I share with the architect Oscar Niemeyer: when you see one of his works, you immediately recognize its authorship.
Another similarity is that both are often targets of forgery, and it takes extensive experience – which I have acquired over time – to differentiate the forgeries from their authentic writings or drawings. This dedication is authentic, but I am not sure who Renato Dobal is: was he an artist? A journalist? A friend?
Now, the last page, on the back. One of the drawings, titled “couple,” was done in pen. The other two—the face in the center and the head above—were done in pencil, the same instrument Tarsila used to write. She had several drawing styles, most of them quite simplified. Together with another expert in autograph documents, I spent hours comparing these drawings with other authenticated ones of hers, present in our digital archives accumulated over the years. In addition to our intuitions, we observed notable similarities in the central drawing (angle, nose, hair) and in the upper one (voluminous lips, broad forehead, way of drawing the nose and eyes). I cannot say with complete certainty that these two drawings are by her, but I believe it is quite likely.
Catalogues, letters, dedications or drawings by Tarsila do Amaral are very rare; this dedication is the second one that has been proposed to me in almost fifteen years.
