From Figuration to Conceptualism: A journey in Art History through sculpture

The Sculpture Courtyard presents examples of figurative, naturalists works which complied to the systematic art taught in academies before modern movements. The author is Erbo Stenzel, from Curitiba, a pupil of João Turin and Escola Nacional de Belas Artes. Then, the first modern,  figurative but not realistic works appear, represented by the works of Francisco Stockinger and Bruno Giorgi. From then on, Modernism is presented in its many variations: Sérvulo Esmeraldo exhibits its merely suggested tridimensionality; Amélia Toledo proposes a reflection with double meaning; Franz Weissmann shows the result of the discussions on Concretism and Neo-Concretism in the 1950s, and Carla Vendrami puts a fence on the Courtyard, inviting the audience to jump not only the sculpture, but the barriers it represents. In the back, on the outcome of the ideas on the inclusion of sculpture in architecture, as well as of its unrest, the red scythe of Oscar Niemeyer beckons with the pacific title of “Shape in Space.” 

A black woman carrying a can of water on her head goes up the hill. Perhaps a commonplace scene in Rio de Janeiro in the 1940s, where the artist Erbo Stenzel studied sculpture. It was at the National School of Fine Arts where he met Anita (Emerenciana Cardoso Neves), the girl who served as a model for the sculpture “Água pro Morro” ("Water for the Hill"). Anita was then 25 years old and, as a simple coffee shop attendant, she became a model and later a school student. Erbo Stenzel presented the work at the National Salon of Fine Arts in 1944, craving the prize for travel abroad, but “Água pro Morro” was considered hors concours, that is, out of competition, given its superior quality.

Sculpted in 1941, during the time when the artist studied in Escola Nacional de Belas Artes, “Recumbent Woman” represents a young female model posing on a stand. When the sculptor returned to Curitiba, in 1949, he brought the sculpture along with him. However, it rema ined forgotten. After it was recovered by the staff of Museu de Arte do Paraná, it was restored and, in 1990, a copy of it was made in bronze. From 1991 on, that copy was displayed in the garden of the ancient Palacete São Francisco, which was then the museum’s headquarters. In 2003, that work was finally transferred to Museu Oscar Niemeyer.

The sculpture “The Athlete” represents a male image sat with its arms on a raised leg. The original version of the work was made in 1951, and the copy in bronze was made in 1970. “The Athlete” is part of a series named “Athletes”, in which Bruno Giorgi came to use bronze in its slender sculptures that are poor in details but rich in the essence of its form. 

Carla Vendrami’s untitled work represents a set of geographic or social barriers, and presents a reflection on alterity. This limit or border between “me” and the other is part of a production regarding the search for identity through difference and individuality  through collectivity. In the process of searching for identity and individuality, one must overcome that border between “me” and the other, comprehending and accepting the difference, and understanding the relationship of interdependence that exists. One gets nearer and overcomes the border when one looks for common ground with the other, or when one gets free from the “illusion of neutrality”. People might believe to be neutral in society while they’re in a system of relations on which their survival depends, and they’re part of that network, influencing other lives.

 “Shape in Space V” is part of a series of sculptures designed by Oscar Niemeyer. These red, winding shapes are present in many cities, such as Rio de Janeiro, Brasília and even Monterrey, in Mexico. They refer to the scythe, once united tot he hammer on the Soviet Union flag, resurrected by the architect as a remembrance that society lies on the shoulders of workers, in the country or the city.

Tomie Ohtake’s untitled work rises up as a gigantic white coil thrown up. It is a part of the series “Lines in Space” (“Linhas no Espaço”), works that materialize on the third dimension the free, gestural lines the artist used throughout her whole production of pantings in lyrical abstraction. With simplicity and lightness, the sculpture suggests flexibility and freedom, and invites one to perceive the surrounding void.

The monumentality of Sergius Elderlyi's work, like an empty Abu-Simbel throne, dialogues with Oscar Niemeyer's building, awakening the ancestral notions of subjugation before the colossal. A few steps ahead, however, there is a warning: Não pare sobre os Olhos” (Don't stop over the Eyes). It is Eliane Prolik who makes the warning, inviting, with her conceptual work, to see what is beyond, what was before, what will be after, what is not… At the end of the path, the sumptuous appears again: nestled in the concrete, on pine barks, lurking the giant birds of Francisco Brennand, legendary birds that impressed travelers of the past and that mark the place of myth and art there.

“Palm Tree” refers to the series of sculptures called “In Natura”, which comprises 37 trees made of metal plates cut with laser, made by Elizabeth Titton. In this series, the artist allies art to industry, making the work of art’s reproduction easier but assuring its quality. “In Natura” evokes affective memories of the artist and marks the development of her experiences with sculpture since the 1970s.

“Don’t Stop Looking” is part of the series “Don’t Stop over the Eyes,” made by Eliane Prolik between 2003 and 2004. The artist appropriated urban signposts, and brought forth the reflection on many themes relevant to civilization, such as freedom, conditioning, automatism, alienation, information and communication. “Don’t Stop Looking”, specifically, is an invitation for one to read, but while one does it, “not to stop over the eyes”, that is, to realize what’s not written, or what lies beyond the visible.

 “Ecological Interference” is part of a series of sculptures started by the artist Elvo Benito Damo in the 1970s which framework was made of wood, iron and cement. Those sculptures represented a criticism against deforestation and the destruction of nature. Since the  wheel was conceived, more than five thousand years ago, it has symbolized progress; however, in “Ecological Interference”, it symbolizes – through the clash between wood and metal – the consequences of that progress. The sculpture was made in 1985 on the request of Roberto Luiz Gandolfi, an architect from São Paulo, to decorate the front of the Citibank Building (1984), projected by him. It remained in front of the bank until 2019.