Eva’s Travels
The exhibition “Eva’s Travels” showcases Eva Klabin’s passion for ocean travel, one of the many interesting aspects of the collector’s life.
By Eva Klabin Museum
Eva Klabin House Museum
Eva Klabin cumprimenta o comandante do navio Giulio Cesare (1967) by EspositoEva Klabin Museum
Travel on luxury ocean liners, the floating palaces of the golden age of transatlantic passenger shipping, attracts great fascination to this day and were one of Eva Klabin's passions.
Eva Klabin, seus pais e irmãs Ema e Mina (1918) by DesconhecidoEva Klabin Museum
Eva Klabin was born in 1903 in Brazil. Her parents were Lithuanian and she was educated in Europe. From an early age, she already developed her two great lifelong passions: traveling and collecting.
Many of the pieces in the Eva Klabin Museum were acquisitions she made on her travels.
Eva Klabin e grupo de amigos a bordo de navio Eva a bordo do navio Cap Polonio (1922) by DesconhecidoEva Klabin Museum
Eva Klabin lived in every decade of the 20th century (she died in 1991), so she witnessed the great transformations in modes of transport throughout the century:
from the early years, when shipping was the only way to travel, to the 1950s and beyond, when jet planes radically shortened the time it took to cross the Atlantic, and air travel became more popular than ocean travel.
Eva Klabin (ao fundo), a irmã Ema (à direita) e amigos, em animado jantar em restaurante parisiense by DesconhecidoEva Klabin Museum
Life on Board
Eva witnessed first-hand the steps the big shipping companies took to reinvent the role of their ships, investing increasingly in the luxury cruise market.
The loyal clientele of this market consisted of people with time on their hands and a willingness to explore new climes. People like Eva Klabin, for whom the mode of travel was no less important than actually reaching the destination.
A bordo do Stella Polaris, Eva Klabin, de preto, à mesa da direita, se diverte com a tradicional course d’escargot (corrida de caramujos) (1958) by DesconhecidoEva Klabin Museum
Traveling on a liner was much more than simply sailing from one city to another: it was a form of transport in which time was the greatest ally.
Every last aspect of life on board was planned and organized meticulously so that passengers had ample opportunity to do whatever gave them pleasure.
Eva e Paulo a bordo do navio Alcantara (c. 1933) by DesconhecidoEva Klabin Museum
Traveling and Collecting
There were many motivations behind Eva Klabin’s wanderlust: her family’s heritage; her solid European education in her youth; her desire to discover new places; good travel companions (usually her husband and sister); and all the refined pleasures of life on board a high-end transatlantic liner.
Rosto de esquife (1550-1307 a.C.) by DesconhecidoEva Klabin Museum
But one of her biggest motivations, if not her biggest, was the opportunity to feed her spirit as a collector, seeking out new objects to take back home.
Vaso tipo Kuei (Dinastia Shang (1557-1050a.C.)) by DesconhecidoEva Klabin Museum
On her many travels, Eva always set aside time to search for new treasures, either to form the kernel of a new collection or to expand on an existing one.
Antique shops and auction houses in cities such as Rome, Paris, London, Zurich, Vienna, Madrid, Barcelona, New York, Buenos Aires, and Hong Kong were guaranteed to provide just what she needed for this agreeable task.
Madona com menino (Final do séc. XV, início do séc. XVI) by Antoniazzo RomanoEva Klabin Museum
Eva acquired her pieces little by little, seizing every opportunity that arose and even developing relationships with local dealers.
In the years after World War II, she focused particularly on acquiring Italian pieces, including paintings and sculptures by the great masters, pieces of furniture, and objets d’art.
Estudo para o retrato de Lady Caroline Howard (1778) by Joshua ReynoldsEva Klabin Museum
Eva began her collection of English paintings in London in 1952 and completed it in 1959.
Cena campestre (Século XVII) by Philips WouwermanEva Klabin Museum
She formed her collection of Dutch paintings between 1954 and 1962.
Camelo montado por figura de mulher (Dinastia Tang (618-907)) by DesconhecidoEva Klabin Museum
In the 1960s and 1970s, Eva focused her energies on finding items to complete her collection, acquiring the objects that formed the kernels of her collections from Antiquity, the Orient, and the decorative arts.
Coleção de malas de Eva Klabin (2012)Eva Klabin Museum
Traveling in Style
For a long time, it was almost expected for seasoned travelers to have a set of sophisticated, high-quality luggage, including pieces designed and handcrafted by famous makers.
Coleção de malas de Eva Klabin (2012)Eva Klabin Museum
Eva did not travel light: she usually took more than a dozen different baggage items. Most of them were monogrammed and many were by famous makers.
Among Eva’s most distinguished “travel companions” were pieces by the French maker Goyard, the Italian Franzi, and the American Hartmann.
Coleção de malas de Eva Klabin (2012)Eva Klabin Museum
Held at the Eva Klabin Museum, “Eva’s Travels” introduced the public to Eva Klabin’s passion for travel by ocean liner. Inspired by objects and documents from her personal archive, the exhibition showcased the many memories of her travels.
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