The Cubist Experimentation of Mário de Sá-Carneiro

Abstract

Mário de Sá-Carneiro occupies a central role in transmitting the main influences of the Parisian avant-gardes to Portuguese Modernism, a role facilitated by his close contact with the main esthetic debates of the day taking place in the French capital. This paper analyzes the contacts of Mário de Sá-Carneiro with these avant-gardes, his confessed belief in the potential of Cubism, and his clear awareness of and adhesion to the main arguments in defense of that movement at the time. It also characterizes Sá-Carneiro's Cubist experimentation, by focusing on "Manucure," an example of a text from Orpheu that doubly represents those influences and experimentation, both in its attempt to challenge the literary field and society, and through the incorporation, original at the time, of Cubist topics and techniques gleaned from the plastic arts, as perceived by the poet.

Keywords

• Cubism
• Futurism
• Modernism
• Intersectionism
• Avant-garde (Aesthetics)
• Paris (France)
• Cubismo
• Futurismo
• Modernismo