Page 132 - ARTE!Brasileiros #37

ART VERSUS IGNORANCE ENGLISH VERSION

etc. “The second MoMA exhibition was dedicated to the COLLECTION ANDREA E JOSÉ OLYMPIO PEREIRA | PAGES 92 TO 96
Mexican painter Diego Rivera, and our intention was to look
at Latin America with great attention,” further explained THE SHARP VIEW
Lowry in New York.
already been transferred over the past few months. The OF ANDREA AND
In addition to 102 new donated works, there are 38 that had
donations include not only works of art. Among them is also
the Magazine Antropofagia, edited by Oswald de Andrade JOSÉ OLYMPIO PEREIRA
(1890-1954), whose contents bring the Anthropophagic
Manifesto. OS MUITOS E O UM – EXHIBITION NOW ON DISPLAY AT INSTITUTO
“This donation is not about the museum, it is not about me, TOMIE OHTAKE, GATHERS PART OF THE COUPLE’S ACQUISITIONS AND
it is about the artists in Latin America who deserve to be in SHOWS THE DIVERSITY AND QUALITY OF PLASTIC EXPRESSIONS IN
the most important museum of America”, affirmed Cisneros.
Since the 1980s, according to the collector, while her husband CONTEMPORARY BRAZILIAN ART
was doing business in the region, she visited the artists’
studios in Latin America. “In Brazil, Paulo Herkenhoff helped BY FABIO MAGALHÃES
me and opened many doors, too bad that he could not come
here,” lamented the collector at MoMA. THE TOMIE OHTAKE INSTITUTE recently held the exhibition
“More important than the donation of 102 works is the creation Os Muitos e o Um (The Many and the One), featuring a vast
of the Research Institute for Latin American Art, which can help panorama of contemporary Brazilian art. The displayed
in the research that the museum already does,” announced works which occupied the entire exhibition space of the
Cisneros. By the rules of the museum, the amount assigned institute belong to the collection of Andrea and Jose Olympio
for this purpose is not disclosed, but according to Gabriel Pereira, one of the most - if not the most - outstanding
Pérez-Barreiro, director of the Cisneros Foundation, “this is art collection dedicated to contemporary art in Brazil. The
an endowment that will ensure its operation permanently.” couple commenced their art collection earlier in time, when
The 140 donated art works were negotiated between curators even before their marriage, they enjoyed buying each other
of the Cisneros collection and curators of MoMA, among works of art.
them Luis Pérez-Oramas, who has worked in the Cisneros To design a first comprehensive show of their collection,
Collection and who also organised the São Paulo Biennial in they invited curator Robert Storr, one of the most influential
2012, entitled Imminence of Poetics. professionals in the art world, creator of important exhibitions for
the New York MoMA (between 1990 and 2002) and collaborator of
The donated works were specifically selected according to
the taste of the collector: Latin geometric abstractionism prominent art magazines including Art in America and Artforum.
Storr partnered with Paulo Miyada, curator of the Tomie Ohtake
from 1930-1960 from four countries, Uruguay, Argentina, Institute, who assisted in the selection and assemblage of the
Brazil and Venezuela, her home country. The artists with art works in the exhibition space.
the majority of works featured in the donation project are Storr’s view of the collection translates his subtle sense
Venezuelan: Alejandro Otero (1921-1990) with 23 works, and of perception and acuity. When selecting art works from
Gego (1912-1994), with 16 works. They are followed by Brazilian the prominent collection, he sought to break free from the
Hércules Barsotti (1914-2010) with 13 works. The donation shackles of art tendencies and historicity. Instead, he chose
includes sets of significant works by Lygia Clark (1920-1988) to prioritise the expressive potential of each art work in the
and Hélio Oiticica (1937-1980), each with nine works. Less attempt to gather the finest pieces of the collection. When he
obvious names also appear, such as Bahia artist Rubem started to bring the selected works together in the exhibition
Valentim (1922-1991), who debuts in the MoMA collection, space, the curator sought to find the meaningful parallels
with two works created in the 1960s. between them. This curating method highlighted similarities
In 2017, MoMA organises the first retrospective of Tarsila between individual art works in the collection, despite the
do Amaral, thus allowing for another two Brazilian artists to variety of art languages and distinct paths pursued by
follow - Lygia Clark and Mira Schendel, who gained shows at each featured artist. With this, the curator intended to
the institution in he previous years. inspire the public to have new perceptions of the works,
The Latino journalists interviewing the collector could not miss new interpretations that rise from the similarities between
the opportunity to address her opinion on how Venezuelan them. Thus, the individual expression of each art piece is
citizens might see this donation to a foreign museum. To which empowered by their connections with one another.
Cisneros promptly responded: “I’m sure they will be happy.” Divergences between many of the art works gathered in
Her most remarkable comment was about the collector’s role the same space reveal a certain level of conflict between
in society: “Buying art is easy, collaborating with society is them. At the same time, these conflicted dialogues are also
more difficult, but that’s what interests me, to dramatically overcome by their flagrant similarities. In other words, the
transform the art history canon.” conflicts that would otherwise separate them give rise to new
possible interpretations that deepen the public’s perceptions
1 | OBJETO GRÁFICO (1967), MIRA SCHENDEL of the artworks and the meaning that lies within each one
of them. Despite the different languages that make up the
2 | FUNÇÃO DIAGONAL (1952), GERALDO DE BARROS collection, the curatorial project seems to show that the
stream of apparently diverging expressions in fact reveal
3 | COLLECTOR PATRICIA PHELPS DE CISNEROS AND MOMA DIRECTOR GLENN LOWRY, points of convergence, as if the concepts and procedures that
NEXT TO PINTURA 9 (1959), BY HÉLIO OITICICA lie underneath had surfaced from the same river of creativity.
On the upper floor of the exhibition building, Storr and
4 | OBJETO ATIVO (CUBO VERMELHO/BRANCO) (1962), WILLYS DE CASTRO Miyada focused on gathering pieces that represent

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