by Mário de Andrade

Born on October 9, 1893, Mário de Andrade lived in São Paulo, Brazil, for most of his life, during which the city turned from a backwater into a vibrant center of culture, industry, and commerce. Andrade participated in many of the initiatives that brought the city to cultural prominence. He was a graduate of the Conservatory of Drama and Music, an art critic, and a professor of musicology and aesthetics at the Conservatory. In 1922 he published a landmark book of poetry, Hallucinated City, and played an important role in the city’s “Modern Art Week,” a series of lectures, poetry readings, musical performances, and art exhibits that rocked Brazil’s staid literary, artistic, and critical establishment. Andrade helped found the city’s Department of Culture and the Brazilian society for Ethnography and Folklore, both of which he...