Tarsila do Amaral

Abstract In the field of visual arts, painter Tarsila do Amaral was a pioneer in her revindication of ‘peripheral’ areas, as well as in her opposition to an exclusive Eurocentric vision of the world. The article highlights how her contribution was crucial to an early approach to decolonization that used the notion of antropofagia to present the colonized in an act of ‘devouring’ the colonizer, assimilating certain aspects and discarding others to process and build new, independent identities. Considering her white, upper-class and cosmopolitan background, the article also explores the limits of her colonial-related art practices and the common trap of exoticism in the arts. Using the history of Tarsila do Amaral as a case study, this study will question how artists from ‘peripheral’ areas were making use of their access to native cultures in order to be part of the established European art scene and hegemonic discourse.