Beyond the “Silence of an Ocean”. Ideas of Brazil in the Representations of Italian Art Critic, Artists and Architects, after World War II

Abstract

This article reflects on the images of Brazil formulated in a selection of letters, articles, photographs, drawings, paintings and exhibitions from the period between 1947 and 1963 by the architects Lina Bo Bardi and Giancarlo Palanti, the artists Roberto Sambonet and Bramante Buffoni, and by the art critic Pietro Maria Bardi - all of them Italians who immigrated to Brazil after the Second World War. The new country is seen as the land where it seems possible to fulfill the modern art and modern architecture promises, but also where such perspectives are undergoing a process of decay and transformation. On the basis of these examples, this article aims to identify a stance towards the local reality that led their search for a character in artistic production.