Arthur Timótheo da Costa was one of the few black Brazilian artists to gain recognition in his time, alongside his brother, João Timótheo da Costa (1878–1932), and presents us here with a melancholic portrait. Arthur rose from humble origins to study at the National School of Fine Arts, where he became a pupil of Zeferino da Costa (1840–1915) and Daniel Bérard (1846–1910), and thanks to a prize was able to live in Paris for one year. We do not know who is O menino [The Boy] of the painting, who was painted in the same palette of earthy tones we see in the artist’s work a little less than 20 years after Brazil abolished slavery. The broad strokes and the masses of mixed colors define and underscore the figure, blurring the rigidity of its contours in a way that denotes the passage between academic and modernist painting in early 20th century Brazil, and which the artist exemplified so well. The scene borders on expressionism and has a certain dramatic quality possibly reflecting the artist’s experience as a set designer. The child has the same sad and beaten-down look of other subjects, a tad sleepy as he casts a crestfallen gaze somewhere outside the canvas.
— Adriano Pedrosa; Tomás Toledo
