THE DEBUT OF BRAZILIAN ART AT THE VENICE INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION (1950)

ABSTRACT

Following a failed attempt to participate in the 24^th Venice Biennale (1948), Brazil made its premiere at the 25^th Venice Biennale (1950), under the management and financed by Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho. Reconstructing the path leading to the affirmation of Matarazzo with the aforementioned Italian entity and in accordance with the historical records referring to the reception of this debut, this article shall examine the duality of the placing attributed to Brazilian art by the international media: one displaying negligence in exhaustively reproducing the exhibition catalogue text written by the Brazilians themselves, subject to personified and serious analysis of the group, and another propagating stereotypes, such as the “primitive indigenous spirit”, “popular truculence”, “exotic and violent iconography” and “savage primitivism”.

KEYWORDS
Brazilian Modern Art; Venice Biennale; Stereotypes; Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho