Having graduated as a civil engineer, Flávio de Carvalho is one of the main exponents of the first generation of avant-garde artists in Brazil. He is a pioneer in several multimedia experimentations. In the 1910s, he lived in Europe and in 1922, following the Week of Modern Art, in which he did not take part, he returned to São Paulo, where he participated in architectural competitions and worked on stage-setting and costume projects, and performed walks and journeys, such as Experiência n. 2 [Experience n.2] (1931), in which he walks in counter-flow to a Corpus Christi procession. The work is considered a precursor to performance art in Brazil. The artist also produced paintings. Lying Female Nude was created in a period when Carvalho was organizing a collective studio called Clube dos Artistas Modernos [Modern Artists’ Club] (CAM), alongside figures such as Antonio Gomide (1895-1967), Emiliano Di Cavalcanti (1897-1976) and Carlos Prado (1908-1992). The collective was in dialogue with composers, writers and psychiatrists. In this portrait, a naked woman is lying on a bed; her limbs are made of fragmented and geometric forms, highlighted in different chromatic tones, evoking cubism. We see her large thighs and full bosom. Her arms are crossed. The strong colors — navy blue, ochre and brown — occupy the canvas with dense brushstrokes. These elements give weight and expression to her face and body; at the same time her position denotes a world of dreams, reveries and metaphysics.
— Guilherme Giufrida, assistant curator, MASP, 2020
