Page 114 - ARTE!Brasileiros #38

ART AS RESISTANCE ENGLISH VERSION

COLLECTIONS MUSEU DA FOTOGRAFIA | PAGES 76 TO 82 collector’s intention, today, is to promote courses, lectures and work
with children from the communities in partnership with the Youth
AN INTIMATE SELECTION Municipal Bureau. “I see photography as a tool for knowledge as
well. We will take the museum to the children and bring them to the
museum. They will photograph and exhibit their photos here and
PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE OF TWO THOUSAND PIECES FROM THE also on the community where they live in,” he explains.
COLLECTOR SILVIO FROTA EARNS A BUILDING OPEN TO THE PUBLIC To manage all this projects, the museum will rely on a curatorship
IN FORTALEZA board that will meet twice a year. A demanding work – not exactly
of a curator, a title Frota rejects, but of a man, in his own words,
“passionate about photography.”
BY SIMONETTA PERSICHETTI
1 | THOMAZ FARKAS, TELHAS (ROOF TILES, 1945)
IN 2009, the art collector Silvio Frota purchased the illustrious
portrait of the Afghan girl Sharbat Gula, photographed by Steve 2 | THE COLLECTOR SILVIO FROTA AND THE JOURNALIST SIMONETTA PERSICHETTI AT
McCurry and published by National Geographic in 1985. Frota THE MUSEUM
reflected on the reason for having felt impacted by that photo
and decided to study the history of photography, attend auctions, 3 | 1) RITUAL DE INICIALIZAÇÃO DOS FILHOS DE SANTO (RITUAL FOR THE INITIATION OF THE
visit shows and befriend photographers. SONS OF THE SAINTS, 1951), MARCEL GAUTHEROT; 2) PHOTO PART OF THE SERIES CARVOEIROS
Right after he began his own collection dedicated to the genre, (COAL MINERS), BY JOÃO ROBERTO RIPPER; 3) LEITE ZULU PRA HARMONIA QUÍMICA NACIONAL
which is now brought to the public by Fundação Paula e Silvio (ZULU MILK FOR THE NATIONAL CHEMICAL HARMNONY, 1988), ARTHUR OMAR; 4) CRIANÇA
Frota, in Fortaleza, with the inauguration of the Museu da TAPEBA (TAPEBA CHILD, 1986), JOSÉ ALBANO; 5) LORD OF THE HEAD, MARIO CRAVO NETO
Fotografia, in the Aldeota district, in a building remodeled by
the architect Marcus Novais. 4 | SERIES OF PORTRAITS BY AREVOLO, NO DATE; FOLLOWED BY UNTITLED SERIES BY
Four floors were reserved for the set of 2,000 pieces collected GABRIEL CHAIM MADE IN ALEPPO, SYRIA
from a subjective, personal perspective. “I only own what I like.
My passion has become photography, not just the photos.” 5 | TOP, UNTITLED PHOTOGRAPH BY GABRIEL CHAIM MADE IN ALEPPO, SYRIA; BOTTOM,
Frota’s view focuses on works and sets that embody emblematic PHOTO BY VICTOR DRAGONETTI PART OF THE SERIES EM PROGRESSO (IN PROGRESS, 2013)
episodes of the Brazilian history. He has rarely chosen one single
photo of an artist, always favoring series or portfolios. “To me, 6 | 1) AFGHAN GIRL (1984), STEVE MCCURRY; 2) MIGRANT MOTHER (1936), DOROTHEA LANGE;
this is the only way to know the vision of a photographer.” 3) CONGRESSO NACIONAL I (BRAZILIAN CONGRESS I), MARCEL GAUTHEROT
This was how Brazilian professionals such as Jean Manzon
(1915–1990), José Medeiros (1921–1990), Chico Albuquerque COLLECTIONS PAULA AND SILVIO FROTA | PAGES 84 AND 85
(1917–2000), Martin Chambi (1891–1973), the Vargas brothers
(1895–1965), found their way into the collection, side by side with THE CITY IN FOCUS
(Carlos and Miguel, born in the 19th century) and Dorothea Lange
other characters of fashion, portrait and social life photography.
Also present are Thomaz Farkas (1924–2011), Evandro Teixeira UNDER THE AUSPICES OF CURATOR IVO MESQUITA, WORKS PORTRAY THE
(1935), Claudio Edinger (1952), Maureen Bisilliat (1931), Miguel RELATIONSHIP OF MAN WITH THE URBAN CENTERS
Rio Branco (1946), Mario Cravo Neto (1947–2009), Gabriel Chaim
(1982), Victor Dragonetti (1990) and André Liohn (1974). BY SIMONETTA PERSICHETTI
Among the images we find, for instance, the photos by Mario Cravo
Neto, whom I interviewed in the 1990s. On the occasion, he defined THE WORLD HAS BEEN MADE SHORTER in its distances and
photography as “a scar on the body, at times intriguing because it broader in its representations after the invention of photography,
shapes the moment of the action. At times direct and intentional, a medium from which stemmed new ideas about culture, about the
at others incidental and casual. For being diverse in their meanings, coexistence in the cities and how we understand what is around us.
they are marks that tell different lies. Their role is like that of all great Within this concept lies Um Imaginário de Cidades (An Imagery of
art – to unite men and bringing them closer to a common idea.” Cities), a show curated by Ivo Mesquita that inaugurates the Museu
The cover image of this edition is part of the series Voodu made in da Fotografia (Photography Museum) in Fortaleza.
the late 1980s. We can see in it Cravo Neto’s sheer symbolic strength. It was Mesquita too who set the curatorial tone for Paula e Silvio
Iconoclastic, mysterious images that demand calm and reflection. Frota’s collection, occupying the three floors of the museum (the
fourth is reserved for the auditorium). For a year he observed and
PURE ADRENALIN examined Silvio Frota’s collection: “It is very broad, with several
One of the collection’s features are the photojournalism series, strands of photography, from journalism through fashion, to
and especially the section focusing on the period of the military portraiture and war,” he claims.
dictatorship. “It must tell a story, it must tell the country’s The museum’s format was finished in September of 2016. Only 10%
story, and photojournalism is perfect at this,” says the collector. of the collection is exhibited, that is, 200 photographs populate
“Look at the photos from the 1960s through the 1970s: they the space. The ground floor, which will be dedicated to temporary
were pure adrenalin. The new generation produces a much exhibitions, is focused on urban matters: “I thought of showing
more manufactured type of photography. It’s great to be able the diverse views by Brazilian and foreign photographers on the
to follow this.” Following this same reasoning, Frota started, city.” As the curator reminds, the invention of photography in 1839,
more recently, a new section focused on political conflicts, with following the budding modernity, had urban centers as its favorite
images registered in other countries. subject. It is not exactly about photographs about architecture and
Making his collection available to everyone who is interested urbanism, but a portrait of man in the habitat he built for himself. In
is not enough to him. The pedagogic concern also encourages the introductory text to the exhibition, Mesquita explain: “An imagery
him and in some way guides the expansion of his collection. The of cities articulates several groups of photographs that represent or

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