Experimental Phase

Visual Arts

During the period when he was the director of the Department of the Cultural Extension of the Federal University of Pernambuco, Ariano Suassuna not only officially launched the Movimento Armorial, on October 18, 1970, but also was concerned with creating at the University, over the following years, a collection of Armorial art, though acquisitions and donations. These works are still part of the institution’s collection, and those that are being exhibited here, offer the visitor the unique opportunity of seeing works selected by Suassuna himself.

In 1974, Ariano published a report published by the UFPE. In this the booklet, O Movimento Armorial, he assesses the Movimento Armorial, and here we have the following summary of his opinions regarding some of the participating artists:

“The work of Miguel dos Santos shows the very expressive view, tragically fatalistic, cruelly happy and mythically true that the Brazilian people have of reality. Aluísio Braga, when painting his tiny, embroidered, varnished and “jewel-filled” pictures that appear to re-encounter the spirit of Persian miniatures, creates motifs of dreams and opens the doors of grandeur for our People. Lourdes Magalhães, through signs and badges, pays tribute to Pernambuco, and to the People from the Northeast, who, though in poverty, organize beautiful processions and shows. Regarding Armorial sculpture, we can say that it originates from the carvings of the xylographs of leaflets, from the tradition of wooden statues of saints and baroque stone sculptures. Fernando Lopes da Paz is a part of all this. He is a man of the people who bring in their veins the strong sap of Brazilian national blood.”