The 'Sete Artes' tour happens around the school that inaugurated the artistic teaching in Brazil, 200 years ago. The National Museum of Fine Arts was officially created in 1937 by Getúlio Vargas and combined the occupation of the building with the National School of Fine Arts until 1976, when the ENBA was relocated to the Fundão. But its history began with the French Artistic Mission of 1816. From it, the Royal School of Sciences, Arts and Crafts was created, whose name would become the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts and which formed the first generation of Brazilian art.
The artistic formation in Brazil was organized and developed marked by Eurocentrism. The first building of the school was built to house an art gallery with works brought from Europe by Joaquim Lebreton, head of the French Mission, at the invitation of King João VI. This introduction and affirmation of European identity has been present in the institution over time. Many of the Brazilian painters were supported by scholarships and support from Brazilian political powers, such as Pedro Américo himself, widely represented in the art galleries of the XIX Century of the MNBA.
Proclaimed the Republic in 1889, the Imperial Academy became the National School of Fine Arts, whose new headquarters is built at the turn of the twentieth century - a historical moment in which the urban space in Rio undergoes profound modifications, with the demolition of the colonial past . The building of eclectic architecture of 1908, designed by the architect Adolfo Morales de los Rios, was inspired by the same concept of the "Palace Museum" of the Louvre Museum. It is an icon of the design of the Brazilian capital, next to the buildings of the Municipal Theater and the National Library, as we will see in this Rolé that contemplates the seven arts: painting, performing arts, literature, music, sculpture and architecture.
Image: BN Digital
The idea of a national theater with a state-owned artistic company had existed since the mid-nineteenth century and had the actor and businessman João Caetano (1808-1863), an enthusiast of Brazilian theater, one of its main supporters. The project, however, only began to gain consistency at the end of that century, with the commitment of playwright Arthur Azevedo (1855-1908). Azevedo's relentless struggle was fought on the pages of the newspapers and eventually brought results. Unfortunately, he did not live long enough to see his dream come true, dying nine months before the opening of the theater on July 14, 1909.
The historical building where the Grande Hotel da Lapa and the Colonial Cinema (1941-1961) operated was transformed into a concert hall, a more simplified space for exaltation of Brazilian music, by the then governor Carlos Lacerda. Until then, chamber music was presented within the inadequate dimensions of the Municipal Theater, presentations that were often one of the reasons for the overload in the sumptuous theater agenda. The room was named after Cecilia Meireles, a Brazilian poet who died months before her inauguration.
The history of the city's first public space is associated with that of Mestre Valentim. The sculptor did not only work as the author of the original Passeio plant - he also made pieces of art installed in the place, the first metal cast in Brazil. The greatest artistic highlight is the Chafariz dos Jacarés, a source that was supplied in the past by Chafariz da Carioca underground. Reforms throughout the eighteenth century altered the design, creating an English model of landscaped garden, and included new works of art, mainly cast iron from the Val D'Osne foundries.
From 1944, the art deco group formed by original architectural and decorative elements of the façade, finishing materials, gradis and staircases and roof of the building were dropped in 2015. The building was the headquarters of Hotel Serrador, considered the Latin America, which attracted nightclub Night and Day (in the 40s and 50s), frequented by politicians and artists. With the relocation of the capital to Brasilia and the decline of Cinelandia, the hotel closed its doors in 1970. Its 23 floors were occupied by Eike Batista's business conglomerate for two years.
The cinema opened in 1926 underwent an extensive renovation in 2015, which included restoration of the facade and interior respecting the original architectural design, as well as a general review of the hydraulic and electrical systems. The revitalization also included the implementation of new 4k digital projection equipment, and public capacity maintained its 550 seats. He has visual communication inspired by the Belle Époque Cinelândia cinemas, as well as the projects of ambient and internal and external lighting.
The original nucleus of the National Library of Brazil is the old bookstore of D. José, organized under the inspiration of Diogo Barbosa Machado, Abbot of Santo Adrião de Sever. The book collection was started to replace the Livraria Real, which was consumed by the fire that followed the Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755.
The collection has its greatest highlight in the segment produced during the nineteenth century, at which time the official teaching of art began, based on the French models. For the comprehensive collection, the MNBA Brazilian Painting Collection is one of the most important collections of nineteenth-century Brazilian art. Many of the most expressive artists of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries such as Victor Meireles, Pedro Américo, José Correia de Lima, Rodolfo Amoedo, Belmiro de Almeida, Modesto Brocos, Henrique Bernardelli, Antonio Parreiras, Almeida Júnior and Eliseu Visconti - one of the precursors of Impressionism in Brazil - are represented in the Galeria de Arte Brasileira do Século XIX, located on the 3rd floor.
Historical painting is one that represents historical facts, mythological, literary scenes and religious history and, mainly, events of political history. Nation themes, war scenes, characters and celebrated acts are depicted on large screens, usually made to order. The genre gained prestige in art academies from the seventeenth century. It also marks a narrowing of the relations between art and political power, where one sees a clearer association between the institution and a particular doctrine. In Brazil, Pedro Américo (1843 - 1905) and Victor Meirelles (1832 - 1903) were the main names of the historical painting of the country.
Being in Europe thanks to the prize trip of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, Victor Meirelles initiates in Paris the painting of the picture, in 1859. In him, Indians and Portuguese, integrated by an ellipse, attend harmoniously to the mass celebrated in an altar erected in the middle of the landscape tropical. The title of the picture refers not to the specific place of fact, but to the future nation. Its Indians, although stamping body paintings, are idealized and unidentified to any specific tribe. Nature, proper to northeastern Brazil, is subordinate to the soft spirit of the painting. The modern spectator stood, not in front of a performance, but was imbued with the sensation of attending the actual Mass
Alongside Victor Meirelles, Pedro Americo updated the battle genre, already decadent after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. In the picture related to the Paraguayan War, the painter emphasizes the mad fight to the detriment of the hero. More than an official order celebrating victory, "The Battle of Avahy" is a critique of the war itself. It is a giant screen of 60 m2, where the action is abandoned to favor the perception of the chaos of war. Multiple parallel episodes are lost, amid the smoke, mud, and blood. The hero, Caxias, then commander-in-chief of the allied forces, is in the background, watching the scene from a distance.
The independent bookstore has been located in the basement of the Marquês do Herval building, the commercial and cultural center of Rio since 1956. Founded in 1952 by the booksellers Andrei Duchiade and Vanna Piraccini, it has formed a generation of intellectuals and has been honored by famous clients such as poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade - which included a poem about Da Vinci in The Impurities of White, 1973 - and Antônio Cícero, who dedicated to the owner the poem The City and the Books, from his eponymous book.
Address: Av. Rio Branco, 185
Phone: (21) 2533-2237
Website: http://www.leonardodavinci.com.br/
The reformed townhouse in the Ladeira Selarón has become a space for the work of theater groups and houses resident theater companies, among them the Company of Actors, the de-balanced and Pangeia cia.deteatro. In its programming, there are shows at popular prices and periodic and free workshops.
Address: Rua Manoel Carneiro, 12 - Ladeira do Selarón
Phone: (21) 2137-1271
Website: www.facebook.com/sededascias