Tradition in Brazilian photography is known the world over.
In a country of such great ethnic diversity, which
is actually many different countries within a
single territory of continental proportions, it
would have been impossible for the influence of
this art form to have avoided receiving inspiration
from universal icons like Henri Cartier-Bresson
or Pierre Verger, that Frenchman who, arriving
in Salvador in 1949, became so enchanted by the
land that he would settle here until his last
days. Since this tradition in fact dates back
to a time in which photography did not exist,
to the painting of Rugendas and Debret, sent here
from Portugal on sea-faring expeditions to the
Brazilian Colony, why not include this relationship
in a summarized analysis of the history of photography
in Brazil? They are indelible marks of the culture
of recording images of our lands, portrayed in
drawings and paintings, a process that would later
be transferred to photography. Currently the experience
with and research into this great art are disseminated
throughout the Brazilian territory, founding schools,
concepts and styles, reverberating for the world
a vision which no longer belongs to Brazil alone.
The objective of this exhibition is to take some
of Brazilian photography’s most significant
talents to Paris, such as Orlando Azevedo, Rogério
Medeiros and Vilma Slomp, included in the Pirelli/MASP
Collection, the nation's most important. Others
are essentially known for their careers in the
field of advertising, like Kazuo Okubo, Cláudio
Meneghetti and Mônica Rebello. In other
modalities of the same art, we present Jose Abujamra,
who worked as a photojournalist in the 1960s in
Europe, where he took part in an agitated youth
culture, participating in protest events that
culminated May of 1968 in Paris; Tonico Alvares,
concerned mainly with registering journalistic
and political-social events; Gilberto Perin, a
travelling photographer with an ever-curious gaze;
and Gariba and Eduardo Álvares, untiring
scholars of the same art. The exhibition is being
held in a historic place, rich with memories.
It is the home that François Mansart, Luis
XIII's architect, creator of the famous mansards
to which he lent his name, designed and built
to live in until his death, and which was later
occupied by Clotilde de Vaux, the father of positivism
Auguste Comte’s muse. The building, dating
to 1642, is now a French historical monument.
The exhibition is also taking place in conjunction
with the events of the Year of France in Brazil
and during the Month of Photography in Paris.
Paulo C. Amaral
Artist and curator of the exhibition
September MMIX
|
