The Archive lent out a series of documents for the exhibition Espectros de Artaud. Lenguaje y arte en los años cincuenta, which opens to the public today at the Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain.
The documents date from 1949 and refer to the exhibition 9 artistas de Engenho de Dentro do Rio de Janeiro (9 Artists from Engenho de Dentro in Rio de Janeiro), which took place in October of that year at the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM-SP). Among the documents are letters, photographs and catalogues for the exhibition which pioneered the introduction of works of art to the museum that were created by psychiatric patients.
Cover of the exhibition catalogue, October 1949
Few people know that the first six editions of the Bienal de São Paulo were organized by MAM-SP – which was also founded by Ciccillo Matarazzo in 1948 on Rua 7 de Abril, in the center of São Paulo. There is a great amount of archived material documenting this period in the Arquivo Bienal, denominated Sub-Fundo MAM, in which one can find diverse documents such as those being exhibited today at Reina Sofia.
The exhibition 9 artistas de Engenho de Dentro do Rio de Janeiro was co-organized by MAM, represented by Lourival Gomes Machado and by the Centro Psiquiátrico do Engenho de Dentro (Engenho de Dentro Pyschiatric Center) represented by Nise da Silveira and Almir Mavignier, who, together, set up painting and modeling workshops at the Center in place of cleaning chores and maintenance which the patients did as part of their occupational therapy.
Nise da Silveira introduces her text in the exhibition catalogue:
Three years after the exhibition at MAM, the production at the Engenho de Dentro workshops led to the Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente (Museum of Images of the Unconscious), founded by Nise da Silveira in 1952. Silveira’s work and ideas inspired the creation of museums, cultural centers and therapeutic institutions in many Brazilian States and abroad, among them them the Museu Bispo do Rosário, in Colônia Juliano Moreira, Rio de Janeiro.
Arthur Bispo do Rosário, whose works may be seen at the 30th Bienal, has a file in the Archive, and will be the subject of the next post in this blog.
Artist: Emygdio de Barros. Reproduction of the work Pátio do hospício shown in the exhibition 9 artistas do Engenho de Dentro.
Photo: Carlos Moscovicz – Instituto Moreira Salles
Artist: Carlos Pertuis. Reproduction of untitled work shown at 9 artistas do Engenho de Dentro.
Photo: Carlos Moscovicz – Instituto Moreira Salles