PIOLIN BEYOND MODERNISM: MODERNITY FROM THE 1920S TO 1930S

Abstract

From the modernist search for an element that synthesizes national identity, we will discuss the choice of Palhaço Piolin as a representative of Brazilian culture and how the character managed to surpass modernists’ expectations and became a popular identity and marginalized groups spokesperson. Using modernist speech, Piolin candies wrapping papers, and comic strips published in the children’s edition of the newspaper A Gazeta, we point out the journey Piolin became, in the 1920s and 1930s, a modernist and modernity symbol. This period determined Brazilian cities’ daily life with countless innovations, such as new techniques and technologies, allowing the ordinary population to see and be seen as a cultural product, leaving the margins of society and circulating through different segments.

Keywords
Palhaço Piolin ; modernity; Modernism; Piolin candies; Desventuras do palhaço Piolin