Anita Malfatti was one of the few female artists to play a central role in Brazilian modernism. A German element in her early artistic training, coupled with her contact with radical expressionist figuration, allowed the artist to make a more intuitive and bold use of color, setting her apart from so many other Brazilian artists who were trained within the molds of Parisian cubism. Upon her return to São Paulo, she held two of the first exhibitions of modern painting in Brazil, receiving some enthusiastic reviews along with some harshly critical ones, as exemplified in the article “Paranoia ou mistificação?” [Paranoia or Mystification?] by Monteiro Lobato (1882–1948). Despite the impact that this text had on her production, Malfatti was one of the creators and most outstanding participants of the Modern Art Week of 1922, in São Paulo, the inaugural moment of modernism in Brazil. In A estudante [The Student], in MASP’s collection, the brushstrokes are large and pronounced. The cooler tones of green and purple contrast with the red and yellow of the skin and shirt. The draping and the folds of the fabric intensify the curves of the body, reinforcing the character’s relaxed, carefree expression. The artist’s technique with quick brushstrokes and dilute, dissonant paints in both the figure and the background make this one of the most significant and innovative works of Brazilian art from that time.
— MASP Curatorial Team, 2015
By Eugênia Gorini Esmeraldo
The work The Student has been subjected to different dating, from 1915/1916 to 1918. In the canvas featuring style characteristics that reveal the influence of Nolde and Kirchner (Camesasca 1988, p. 263), the artist depicted a young woman of short, auburn hair seated pensively in a chair, her arms folded over her legs. She is wearing a yellow blouse, plaid skirt, and a scarf around her neck, like a loose tie. This latter feature, typical of school uniforms, is perhaps what inspired the painting’s title. The vivid colors applied with long, firm brush strokes, imparting the idea of movement to the otherwise static model, clearly demonstrate the Expressionist style and the influence of other artists whose works she saw in Europe. Beyond a naturalism meddled with Expressionism, the artist rendered in the painting a manifest graphic concision and stress.
— Eugênia Gorini Esmeraldo, 1998
