Muralism in São Paulo in the 1950’s: two panels by Candido Portinari

Abstract

The panel Bandeirantes, made by Candido Portinari in 1951, adorned for many decades the restaurant of the Hotel Comodoro in São Paulo, till it be incorporated into the art collection of the Banco Itaú, in 2005. Concomitant with this project, is the Niemeyer’s commission for the same artist to decorate a large wall into Galeria California, opened in 1953. The study of these two specific cases in parallel, and the dialogue of these works with contemporary proposals, allows us to investigate certain aspects of the modern program of synthesis of arts in Brazil. From the analysis of these panels, we enter the issues touching since complications of practical nature, to questions of aesthetic nature, exposing the fragility of a decorative program imported from international experiences, and somehow adapted to Brazilian conditions.