Pedro Figari is a leading figure of Uruguayan modernity. His painting expresses his desire to represent an autonomous Latin America, one closer to its own historical and ethnic roots. To this end, Figari worked as a lawyer and activist in the areas of human rights, education and art. He served as the director of the Escuela de Artes y Artesanías in Montevideo, where he advocated for a fusion between industry and art underpinned by a Latin American identity, hoping to foster “a national mentality with its own criteria.” After leaving his post at the school, he emigrated first to Buenos Aires and then to Paris, where, at the age of 60, he devoted himself entirely to painting, depicting his native country through scenes such as the Afro-Uruguayan cultural manifestations of a bygone era, oftentimes imagined and utopian. The work at MASP depicts a candombe, an African group dance that was popular in the cities of the Río de la Plata region (Montevideo and Buenos Aires) during the 19th century. Figari’s fast, expressive brushstrokes eloquently capture the dances and rhythms of this musical form. Rich Afro-Uruguayan culture represents the memory of Africans forced into slavery in the Americas, constituting an important bastion of cultural resistance in opposition to the racism of colonial society. Figari was keenly aware of the erasure his country’s African population had endured. He strove to create joyful, vivid representations of that population, largely airbrushed from the country’s historical record.

— Mariana Leme

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