Anthropophagy as a concept of the Brazilian avant-garde at the end of the 1920s. Between history, myth and artistic conception

Abstract

_{The metaphor of anthropophagy is one of the most vital phenomena in contemporary Brazilian culture. It originated as an artistic concept introduced by Oswald de Andrade in his Anthropophagous Manifesto (1924), and since its inception it was characterised by an intrinsic link between text and visual images. The concept of anthropophagy should be regarded as a manifesto of singularity of the Brazilian modernist movement, despite being related to contemporary global trends within the avant-garde movement. In creating the metaphor, Brazilian modernists have drawn on the topoi of cannibalism, associated for centuries with the native inhabitants of America. Anthropophagy is present in the work of many Brazilian artists, including the initiators of the concept (Oswald de Andrade, Tarsila do Amaral), the artists working in a later period (Candido Portinari), and contemporary artists (Andriana Varejão).}