A week of art in stamp size

On 28 April this year (2022), Brazil issued a nice block with four stamps on the occasion of "Modern Art Week". This is in celebration of the 100th anniversary of a group of artists initiating the Modern Art Week in São Paulo.
The four stamps are only issued in a large format block measuring no less than 24.1 (height) by 23.1 (width) centimeters, thus almost a full page. The designers were inspired by the images exhibited in 1922, but "translated" them into contemporary scenes.

On the poster from 1922, designed by Di Cavalcanti, a budding tree was depicted.

On the block of 2022 we see the same tree, but now it bears fruit as a symbol that modern art has become firmly rooted in society.

In the background, in silver, there is a mosaic with multiple elements, alluding to Brazil's diversity. There are Yoruba patterns, symbols of the sidewalk in Rio de Janeiro and the sidewalks of São Paulo, inscriptions from Marajoara ceramics, drawings present on tiles from São Luís (Ma) and on tiles from Cândido Portinari, present in the Church of São Francisco in Pampulha. The landscapes connecting the stamps, urban and rural, are inspired by Tarsila do Amaral. His Picasso-like paintings are well worth Googling his name.

Then the stamps themselves. The four pillars of the art are depicted in the four stamps of the second franking class. We're going clockwise.

In the pillar of literature we see drawings inspired by Carybé who, in 1943, illustrated one of the editions of Macunaíma, by Mário de Andrade. The main character appears lying in the author's glasses.

In architecture two buildings are presented that connect the modernist past and present: the Municipal Theater and the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo (MASP). The latter institution not only has several modernist works in its collection, but is itself an architectural project of modernism, idealized by Lina Bo Bardi.

The basis of the music has as main inspiration the music of "O Trenzinho do Caipira" by Heitor Villa-Lobos. Aesthetically speaking, the stamp speaks with the works of Anita Malfatti. The smoke from the locomotive shows the scale of the music.

And then "our" stamp!!! In the visual arts, a tribute was paid to Zina Aita, a female artist from Minas Gerais who took part in the Week of 1922. The stamp was inspired by the painting "A Sombra". In the original it is possible to see men at work, and the creator clearly demonstrates the issue of the difficult and exploitative work to which the black population is subjected. On the stamp you see motoboys, delivery drivers, the working class currently working hard in urban centers, often without guaranteed labor rights.

With a little imagination the street can be recognized and it is the same style of painting. The work on the right, "Homes Trabalhando", by Zina Aita, 1922, which inspired the designer, was on display at the Minas Gerais Vale Memorial Museum until April 3, 2022 and is now touring Brazil.

Finally, a picture of the FDC of the block with the stamp. Needless to say, it won't fit in any A4 album.

Hans de Kloet

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