Uma resenha, mesmo que tardia: Roberto Pontual e a sobrevida da questão da identidade nacional na arte brasileira dos anos 1980

Abstract

Departing from the broad outlook delineated by the Brazilian (born in Rio de Janeiro) art critic Robert Pontual in his book Explode Geração!, published in 1985, this article intends to assess to what extent has the issue of Brazilian identity within art production in the country found resonance amid the artistic scene of the 1980s, a moment in which the production of a younger generation of artists who had been aligned to the tradition of the Brazilian barroque, a tradition that, according to the critic, would cut through and bring together some of the artworks of that period, bestowing upon them a token of unsuspected Brazilianness, in spite of all the contacts and links established among them and the art produced in the international sphere. This "late review" is a mere attempt to pinpoint some pathways for future more detailed studies about the matter.