Anita Catarina Malfatti (December 2, 1889 – November 6, 1964) is heralded as the first Brazilian artist to introduce European and American forms of Modernism to Brazil.
The cultural history throughout Brazil is relevant to the changing theories of art's purpose and the consequential role that Modernist artists played.
By the end of the nineteenth century there was dissent in Rio's National School of Fine Arts and it was threatened to be closed by the Republicans who wanted all people who desired to become artists would have the ability to do so.
Malfatti's studies began in Mackenzie College in São Paulo, but the limited world of art in Brazil was not enough to satiate her curious mind and so she left for Berlin in 1912.
Hence, when Anita Malfatti went to Germany and studied with important artists Fritz Burger-Muhlfeld (1867–1927), Lovis Corinth (1858–1925) and Ernst Bischoff-Culm her influences and creative exposure were inflated.
Malfatti also studied under artists George Bridgman, Dimitri Romanoffsky (s.d.-1971), however it was her experience with Homer Boss at the Independent School of Art that was most influential.
Malfatti had her own solo exhibition, Exposição de Pintura Moderna in São Paulo, Brazil from December 12, 1917, to January 11, 1918.
As Batista argues, Malfatti's thought was something similar to, "I'm not the only person who paints in this style unfamiliar to you; out there, this is the new, current art many others are experimenting with.
"Her formal innovations, including Cubist planar distortions, a vibrant high-colour palette and forceful drawing, were deemed unintelligible.
"[3] However, Malfatti's art was celebrated by critics like Oswald de Andrade who had been familiar with Marinetti's futurist manifesto in Europe and translated that to Brazilian culture because her artwork reflected true freedom of subject and style.
[4] For example, Oswald de Andrade's “Pau-Brazil Poetry Manifesto” argues for: Synthesis Balance Finished bodywork Invention Surprise A new perspective A new scale Any natural effort in this direction will be good.
The synthesis between Andrade and other painters such as Tarsila do Amaral and the rest of the Group of Five was enormously important in replacing the older more conservative views of art and culture.
"[4] The Week of Modern Art in São Paulo, Brazil was created in respect to events in Europe such as Deauville, France which tended to celebrate futurism and progressive thought.
The point of the week was to celebrate the down-to-earth and free-thinking styles of art that could propagate change and social movement toward a less pretentious and more open-minded Brazilian mindset.
"[6] Although Cubism and art deco later became a huge part of the Modernist movement, Malfatti's particular style was most influential in its initial impression to Brazil.
Malfatti makes great use of primary colors, and she outlines her subject in black which clearly defines the shape of the chair and the woman, but which leaves the background indiscernible as to exactly what it is representing.
However influential Malfatti's debut into the Modernist art scene was in Brazil, her later pieces of work seem to revert to an older and more serene style.
Instead of playing off of opposite colors, O Canal e a Ponta is one swell of deep shades that vary slightly from light reflections.