The Art of Diplomacy : Brazilian Modernism Painted for War
I had assumed
this was just an exhibition of Brazilian modernist art and on one level it was
however more interesting was the story of how it came to Britain. 168 works
were sent to Britain in 1944, donated by the artists to boost the war effort.
The British Council arranged the transport and the pictures were shown at the
Royal Academy and the Whitechapel Gallery as well as around the country. The
Royal Academy didn’t seem too pleased by the idea and there were wonderful
archive letters recording their resistance. The pictures were then sold in aid
of the RAF Benevolent Fund.
The show included all but one of the 25 pictures that entered public collections in the UK and included some lovely work. The captions were well written and told you a lot about the artists. I loved Thea Haberfeld’s landscape of a patchwork of fields and there was a lovely hang of three portraits. I also liked Cardosa Junia’s rather naïve picture of topless women having fun on a beach, a detail of which is seem here.
It was also a good chance to see the magnificent room which had been part of the P&O headquarters and was lovely wood lined Edwardian interior with frescos and ceiling paintings of the ships destinations.
Closes on 22 June 2018.
The show included all but one of the 25 pictures that entered public collections in the UK and included some lovely work. The captions were well written and told you a lot about the artists. I loved Thea Haberfeld’s landscape of a patchwork of fields and there was a lovely hang of three portraits. I also liked Cardosa Junia’s rather naïve picture of topless women having fun on a beach, a detail of which is seem here.
It was also a good chance to see the magnificent room which had been part of the P&O headquarters and was lovely wood lined Edwardian interior with frescos and ceiling paintings of the ships destinations.
Closes on 22 June 2018.
Comments