Flávio de Carvalho - body and its Discontent

Abstract

This study seeks to highlight the importance of Flávio de Carvalho (1899-1973) and his main artistic actions about the costume. Although the artist’s production is present in several aspects of Brazilian culture, such as: architecture, visual arts, literature and theater, here I seek to investigate Flavio de Carvalho’s relationship with the expressionist movement and the way in which the artist uses symbolic and aesthetics of the body as a propellant to artistic events of the beginning of the 20th century . The methodology used for this investigation consists of a bibliographic search for authors who somehow referenced Flávio de Carvalho after his arrival from Europe and imagery references of architectural and artistic projects, as well as records of his proposals. Finally, I also seek to problematize the use of costume and the study of fashion in which the artist engenders in a precursor way the performance action and the symbolism of clothing as a questioning of the social and psychic standard of humanity.