Exhibition

Djanira: the Memory of Her People

The exhibition Djanira: the Memory of Her People reaffirms Casa Roberto Marinho’s commitment to modern art

Jun 28 to Oct 27

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday,
from 12 AM to 6 PM
*Admission until 5:15 PM

R. Cosme Velho, 1105
Rio de Janeiro, RJ

Exhibition

Djanira: the Memory of Her People

The exhibition Djanira: the Memory of Her People reaffirms Casa Roberto Marinho’s commitment to modern art

Jun 28 to Oct 27

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday,
from 12 AM to 6 PM
*Admission until 5:15 PM

R. Cosme Velho, 1105
Rio de Janeiro, RJ

Djanira da Motta e Silva
Mercado da Bahia, 1959

Mercado da Bahia

The exhibition Djanira: the Memory of Her People reaffirms Casa Roberto Marinho’s commitment to modern art

The collaboration with the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP) reinforces our practice of partnerships with institutions of excellence. Brazilian modern painting is a territory little explored by the new generations. The work of Djanira da Motta e Silva has enjoyed practically no attention in recent decades. One of the charms of the exhibition is to allow artworks created many years ago to become present, without intermediations. As standalone objects, they do not depend on technological conversions as films and music do.

The artworks in this show exceptionally curated by Rodrigo Moura, adjunct curator of Brazilian art, and Isabella Rjeille, assistant curator, arrive new to the eyes of today.

In putting together his collection, Roberto Marinho chose groups of artworks by his modern contemporaries, including 10 artworks by Djanira. The journalist was especially fond of the canvas Mercado na Bahia [Market in Bahia], which was centrally displayed in the library of his home. And the link with MASP dates from 1950 when the house in Cosme Velho had a festive night when the recently acquired works Portrait of Zborowski (1916–1919), by Amadeo Modiglani (1884–1920), and Portrait of Coco (Claude Renoir) (1903–1904), by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), were presented to Rio de Janeiro society, before heading off to São Paulo.

Djanira was an artist who began her career late in life, developing it with great determination and effort.

No Brazilian artist has ever devoted so much attention to portraying the day-to-day struggle of the less-favored layers of society. The painter’s humble origin gave her a keen sensibility for capturing these anonymous epopees, the festivals and the faith that lightened the hardship of each individual’s life.

In a recent lecture at Casa Roberto Marinho, Frederico Morais underscored the mistake of classifying Djanira’s work as primitive. A reading that only considers the themes can lead to this error. This would, however, be a case of confusing the ethnologist with the subject of her research.

The economy of her language, the use of a few concise planes, and the carefully chosen vibrant colors evince a great deal of sophistication, as would be expected in an artist of her time. It was not by chance that some neoconcrete artists sought a closer relation with Djanira’s work, just as the concrete artists incorporated the art of Volpi (1896–1988).

Initially self-taught, a seamstress, and the owner of a boarding house in Rio de Janeiro’s Santa Teresa neighborhood, Djanira became a student of Romanian painter Emeric Marcier (1916–1990) in exchange for a large room with a view of trees and Guanabara Bay. In an interview published by Rubem Braga (1913–1990) in the magazine Visão, Djanira tells us:

“Marcier explained to me that I was very different from him; so my painting had to be very different from his painting. That I shouldn’t look at his paintings, but rather pay attention to his classes, teaching me all about the technical part of painting, beginning with the preparation of the canvases.”

When she began showing her work, in 1943, at the revolutionary building of the Associação Brasileira de Imprensa (ABI) and, in 1944, at the Instituto dos Arquitetos, Djanira was recognized by important people in the art world – including Candido Portinari (1903–1962), who bought some of her works – and received the enthusiastic praise of Lasar Segall (1889–1957): “You are a true artist, do not stop painting; don’t do anything besides painting; always paint (...)".

And that’s what Djanira did.


Lauro Cavalcanti
Executive Director
Instituto Casa Roberto Marinho

Obras expostas

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