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contemporary art expressions. The first room features FOTOGRAPHY DIANE ARBUS | PAGES 98 TO 100
an impressive selection of the most relevant works created
project, Caldas’ works stand out in the room while dialoguing THE MARGINAL NARRATIVE
by Waltércio Caldas. Thanks to a well-designed curatorial
Jac Leirner, José Resende e Cildo Meirelles, among others. OF DIANE ARBUS
with works by Iran do Espírito Santo, Tunga (1952-2016),
Further in the same room the public will find the work of
Anna Maria Maiolino, which impresses and gains prominence NEW CATALOG AND EXHIBITION AT THE METROPOLITAN IN NEW YORK
for its unsettling vitality. SHOW THE CREATIVE FORCE OF THE AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHER
The curators chose the second room to gather the works of WHO BECAME PROMINENT IN THE 1950s WITH HER PORTRAITS OF
contemporary painters consolidated between 1980 and 1990,
such as Beatriz Milhazes, Adriana Varajao, Paulo Monteiro MARGINALIZED AND UNWANTED CHARACTERS
and Paulo Pasta. However, the room also finds space for
painters of the new generations as Tatiana Blass and Rafael BY SIMONETTA PERSICHETTI
Carneiro. The selected works confirm the potential and vigour
of Brazilian contemporary painting. JULY 26, 1971, WAS A SAD DAY IN THE WORLD OF
The third room of the exhibition features works in PHOTOGRAPHY. Diane Arbus (1923-1971) left this world
photography, with a selection that encompasses pioneers after committing suicide. We lost a great photographer. But
as Marcel Gautherot (1910-1996), innovators as Geraldo de Arbus’ legacy, her vision of society and her perspective of
Barros (1923-1998) and contemporary photographers as each person’s individuality have long survived her passing.
Claudia Andujar, Luiz Braga and Sebastião Salgado. Yet, Her photos depicting characters that the America of the
visual art expressions that explore the use of photography 1960s definitely did not want to see, or just ignored, would
are predominant in this space. In this vein, the public will find forever be immortalised through the clicks of her camera.
the works of Miguel Rio Branco, Albano Afonso, Rosangela No one is indifferent when standing before a photograph
Rennó and Lia Chaia. The selection shows that, when using taken by Diane Arbus. It doesn’t matter whether we like it
photography as a way of expression, visual artists have blurred or not.
the lines between photography and visual arts, stretching the Her interest in her field of interest began in the 1940s, when
limits of photography. she entered the gallery of Alfred Stieglitz and made contact
The ground floor features the works of artists who had with the work of photographers such as Matthew Brady,
a historic role and set new standards by expanding the Paul Strand and Eugène Atget. In the post-war, she began
her career as a fashion photographer and as her husband’s
possibilities of artistic expression and proposals that challenge
the concept of contemporary art. In this group, the public will assistant, publishing in magazines like Vogue and Harper’s
Baazar. But fashion photography did not interest her. Ten
predominantly find the works of constructive and experimental years later, she became a student of Lisette Model (1901-1983)
artists as Ivan Serpa (1923-1976), Lygia Clark (1920-1988), and began to develop her own signature in photography. With
Lygia Pape (1927-2004), Willys de Castro (1926-1988), Hélio her camera she began to give visibility to people from the
Oiticica (1937-1980) and Mira Schendel (1919-1988). As part streets, the margins of society who were not well regarded
of this selection, we find a significant set of paintings by or even noticed. Thus, transvestites, dwarfs, giants, circus
Alfredo Volpi (1896-1988). people, hermaphrodites, young, elderly and babies began to
Lyricism marks the selection art works gathered by Storr and populate her portfolio. It was in the late 1950s that she became
Miyada, on display on the ground floor. Artists from several prominent as a photographer. The visual impact and potential
generations and different forms of artistic expression are for communication of her imagery is impressive. A humanist
brought together in a small room. The wonderful work of photographer, she transformed the streets of New York City
Carmela Gross, Projeto Para a Construção de Um Céu (Project in her studio. The characters depicted in her photographs
for the Construction of a Sky), created in 1980, shares space were strategically placed in a position from where they look
with the recent works of André Komatsu, Daniel Steegman and the viewer in the eye.
Rivane Neuenschwander, with her Cartas Famintas (Hungry But what really interests us are the facts, the stories that she
Letters), devoured by the voracity of slugs. seeks to tell us through her photographs. Her photographs
The exhibition Os Muitos e os Outros reveals the diversity depicted what people did not think to be photographable.
and quality of contemporary Brazilian art. It also reveals She wanted to show that another world was right before
the sharp taste of Andrea and José Olympio Pereira, who our eyes. And she did not have to go far: she found her
have, along the years, gathered the best examples of characters wandering near her house, in the clubs of New York,
artistic expression in the present days. There is nothing in shelters for people left to their own luck, in amusement
comparable to their collection in any museum or public parks, among inmates of psychiatric hospitals. However, her
institution nowadays. most striking work is definitely her portraits. Diane Arbus’
camera did not look for the classic beauty. She sought to
1 | ANDA UMA COISA NO AR (2002), WALTERCIO CALDAS portrait anguish, despair, abandon. At the same time, she
offered these “outsiders” the sense of empowerment and
2 | ON THE LEFT, TOP TO BOTTOM: AZULEJARIA COM INCISURA VERTICAL (1999), importance of being photographed. Through her photographs
ADRIANA VAREJÃO; MARRAKECH (2008), ERIKA VERZUTTI; CONVITE AO RACIOCÍNIO she sought to understand the differences and the tension
(1978), WALTERCIO CALDAS. ON THE RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM, POR UM FIO, ANNA between what society expects from the individual and what
MARIA MAIOLINO; MALHA VIÁRIA (2010), MARINA RHEINGANTZ; MARIA LEÔNCIA (2012), the individual wants to be.
MIGUEL RIO BRANCO Open from July this year until the end of November, the
exhibition Diane Arbus: In The Beginning at the Metropolitan
3 | PROJETO PARA A CONSTRUÇÃO DE UM CÉU (1980-81), CARMELA GROSS of New York features more than one hundred photographs

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