The body, the visual, and the sound in the construction of modernity

This article discusses the emergence of the human body as a privileged object in discussions of Brazilian modernity in the first half of the 20th century, particularly in the 1920s. To this end, we analyze primarily visual documents, both illustrations published in the press and the works of the "modernist squad", especially the painter and illustrator Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, based on their proximities with the sound universe, which seems to serve as a channel to access the Brazilian national identitary contents. Interfaces between consumption images and artistic images serve as indicators of broader issues of that historical moment, allowing us to understand the roles assigned to the visual and sound dimensions in terms of aesthetic and political practices.