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EXHIBITION RIO DE JANEIRO | PAGES 62 TO 65 (1806-1879). He took part in the exhibition with six works,
one of them a portrait of Debret, from 1818, who was his
THE PILLARS teacher in the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, and with
whom he travelled to France when the master returned to
OF THE ACADEMY his country. Porto-Alegre, generally known as a painter of
landscapes, is considered the first critic and historian of art
in Brazil. He managed the Academy of Fine Arts between
IN RIO, PINAKOTHEKE PRESENTS 43 WORKS ON THE INFLUENCES 1854 and 1857.
OF THE FRENCH ARTISTIC MISSION, 200 YEARS AFTER ITS ARRIVAL By means of such correlations of this type, the discreet
exhibition gains intensity, but it is still a small event for such
BY FABIO CYPRIANO an important date. Where’s the Museum of Fine Arts in this
debate?
The celebration of the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the
French Artistic Mission in Rio de Janeiro was organized by a 1 | CABEÇA DE TOUROS (1817-1829), JEAN-BAPTISTE DEBRET. INK AND PENCIL ON PAPER
private institution, the Max Perlingeiro’s Pinakotheke, curated
by himself and by Maria Eduarda Marques. A Missão Artística 2 | HYMENEUS TRAVESTIDO ASSISTINDO A UMA DANÇA EM HOMENAGEM A PRÍAPO
Francesa no Brasil e Seus Discípulos (French Artistic Mission (1634-1638), NICOLAS POUSSIN
in Brazil and Its Disciples) is a modest exhibition with 43 works
and avoids the controversy regarding the real reason behind 3 | BANHISTAS (1799) NICOLAS-ANTOINE TAUNAY
the expedition led by Joachim Lebreton (1760- 1819), who
had been dismissed of Institut de France. He was joined by A Missão Artística Francesa e Seus Discípulos
historical painter Jean-Baptiste Debret (1768-1848), landscaper Until November 26
Nicolas-Antoine Taunay (1755-1830) and his brother, sculptor Pinakotheke Cultural
Auguste-Marie Taunay (1768-1824), architect Grandjean de São Clemente, 300, Rio de Janeiro, RJ
Montigny (1776-1850) and medal engraver Charles-Simon
Pradier (1783-1847). 55 21 3284-7400
The official version says the group came by invitation of D.
João VI to create the Academy of Fine Arts. However, this EXHIBITION SÃO PAULO | PAGES 66 TO 69
idea has been questioned for a long time. Some of the studies
called Da Missão Francesa - Seus Obstáculos Políticos, written INDIGENOUS ADORNMENT
on this direction includes an unpublished thesis for a contest
do Brasil. In summary, both maintain that the French group, so AS RESISTANCE
by Mário Pedrosa in 1955, and a book by Lilia Schwarcz, O Sol
attuned to the neoclassical aesthetics and close to Napoleon
Bonaparte, decided to come to Brazil to escape the return to EXHIBITION CURATED MOACIR DOS ANJOS, AT SESC PINHEIROS
power of the Bourbon dynasty. OPENS DIALOGUE BETWEEN INDIGENOUS ART AND ARTISTS AS BENÉ
That bond is explained in the exhibition with a quill pen
drawing by Debret, certainly a sketch, entitled La Haranque FONTELES, CLAUDIA ANDUJAR, LYGIA PAPE AND PAULO NAZARETH
of L’Emperour Napoleon aux Bavorois. The work was dedicated
to Dr. Sigaud, a French doctor living in Brazil, who came to the BY MARCOS GRINSPUM FERRAZ
country to escape persecution of supporters of Napoleon.
Debret is also highlighted in the exhibition for his watercolours “I BELIEVE THAT NONE OF YOU could possibly indicate acts
that depict natives and slaves on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, or attitudes of the indigenous people of Brazil that put at risk
already pointing the social differences that would earmark either the life or property of any person, of any human group in
Brazil for decades. this country. And today we are target of an assault that seeks
It doesn’t belong to any of the artists of the expedition, to hit mainly our faith, our trust that there is dignity around
however, the centrepiece of the exhibition, Hymenaios Disguised us, that it is still possible to build a society that knows how to
as a Woman during an Offering to Priapus (c. 1634-8), by respect the weaker, that knows how to respect those who don’t
Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), the “first interpreter of modern have the money to keep a relentless campaign of defamation
neoclassical culture”, as said by Marques in the catalogue of … That knows how to respect people that always lived in the
the exhibition. absence of all wealth”, said indigenous leader Ailton Krenak
“This painting was never displayed in Rio de Janeiro and, since in 1987 in a speech at the Constituent National Assembly. He
we started thinking about this show, the presence of a Poussin made the speech while paiting his own face using black ink
was unavoidable,” says Perlingeiro. The work belongs to the made of jenipapo, a native fruit. “A people who inhabit houses
São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) and was restored in 2009 as covered with straw, who sleep on mats on the floor, should not
part of the program of Year of France in Brazil. The curators be identified at all as a people that is an enemy of the interests
stated that no other work of the artist is known in country. of Brazil, of the interests of the nation, and stays in the way of
According to Maria Eduarda Marques, Poussin influenced all any development. The indigenous people have irrigated with
academic practice of classic painting established in Brazil, blood every hectare of eight million square kilometers of Brazil.
since his style “started to be adopted by the academies of art And you gentlemen are witness of this”, he concluded, with his
since the end of the 18th century.” entire face painted. As striking as the speech, the gesture of
Thus, the exhibition presents not only paintings that depict dying his own face explained that the indigenous resistance
this influence in the group that docked here 200 years ago, occurs not only in a rhetoric level, but, mainly, in the persistence
as in the two paintings of Nicolas-Antoine Taunay, but also of cultural practices, including body painting and the use of a
in their disciples, especially Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre wide range of ornaments and artifacts.

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