A modern addendum: The Yugoslavian representation at the São Paulo Biennials (1953-1961)

Abstract

This article examines the relations between art and politics in the exhibitions of the Yugoslavian representation at the International Art Biennials of São Paulo in the 1950s and 1960s and focuses on the group of paintings and engravings presented between the second and the sixth edition of the show which were obtained through the acquisition prizes for the MAM São Paulo and for Ciccilo Matarazzo-Yolanda Penteado, both donated in 1963 to USP as part of the collection that originated the Museum of Contemporary Art. The set of 16 artworks by eight artists from six countries of the then federative socialist republic are indicative of an important episode of modernism in the visual arts, covering relevant debates about figuration, abstraction, fantastic art, naïf art and folk references. This is also an opportunity to better understand institutional arrangements between Brazil and Yugoslavia and the ways in which Yugoslavian cultural politics were present in Brazil after the Second World War, a period from which derives the narrative of polarization between the powers of the Cold War that continues today.