Untitled 

Curator: Taking a look at this work, it's hard to pin down exactly what's happening, isn't it? Editor: Yes! It's intriguing though, my first thought is, oh it's playful! The colors are somewhat muted, but the way they’re all jumbled together gives it this childlike, dreamlike quality. Curator: Absolutely. The piece before us, known as "Untitled," comes from the artist Emiliano Di Cavalcanti. Now, although undated, the painting shows hallmarks of his explorations into portraiture through abstraction and Cubism. Editor: Cubism certainly shines through, and something else too... I can’t put my finger on it…almost caricature-like. I suppose it gives me pause – this sense of both elegance and playful mocking… Curator: It's a potent combination. The abstracted forms build this mysterious image. I see a serpentine form snaking up and around a woman, her face obscured yet present, with these large knowing eyes. In terms of how this work was produced, Di Cavalcanti appears to have used watercolor or possibly oil painting techniques… or both? Editor: Oh, there's definitely something evocative about that swirling serpent… It feels very symbolic. Perhaps representing temptation, some lost paradise maybe? And what about the house-like structure placed there, a place she has lost? It really pulls you in. It’s as though Cavalcanti is toying with the traditions, breaking them, making you rethink how we represent… femininity… myth… the modern age. Curator: Right! Think of the cultural backdrop: early 20th century Brazil. Di Cavalcanti, a leading figure of the Brazilian modernist movement, actively challenged the academic art traditions by depicting urban life and society. So, his figures often carried a distinctly Latin American sensibility, merging European avant-garde movements with local themes and visual languages. The "samba," folklore. Editor: That provides such a lens, placing this picture and all its fractured perspective firmly in that time and cultural explosion. Di Cavalcanti isn't just showing us a woman, he’s using that figure as a landscape onto which a whole world and worldview might unfurl. Curator: Exactly. We start unpacking these portraits and social, and indeed artistic statements soon rise to the surface, right? I do wonder who, specifically, she may be or may not be representing. I think of course a multitude, myself, a melting pot... a new ideal. Editor: Well, however fragmented or obscure they seem, these paintings tell a very strong story. It’s exciting to see the history revealed and relationships unfurl as if you're discovering things for the first time again and again.