The origin of large scale international exhibitions and the art from Brazil in Britain

Abstract

Since the 1989 Paris exhibition Magiciens de la terre, large scale contemporary art exhibitions, such as Kassel documenta and São Paulo Bienal, have been engaged in an effort to reveal multiple modernities. A remarkable example is the Tate Modern inaugural exhibition. Century City (2001) questioned the Western art historical canon and re-inscribed Neoconcretism and the art from Brazil in Britain. In this paper, I aim at analysing this contemporary subject by getting back to the past. I look to the origin of large scale international exhibitions in the nineteenth Century and their role in historically defining hegemonies in the art realm. I therefore analyse the case of 1862 London International Exhibition, the first one to organise a national representation system on a world scale. Based on the documentation held at the National Art Library in the Victoria and Albert Museum, I retrace the first Brazilian artistic representation in London, with emphasis on the pictures gallery. Finally, I argue that the Empire of Brazil sought to meet the cosmopolitan expectations of the organisers and the public and, at the same time, respond to his own process of forming a national art.