Engraved Art at the 1st Biennial of the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art

some relevant observations

Abstract

This work was necessary as a result of the thin analysis present in official documents on the presence of the engraving technique as a poetic recognized by our country in 1951 and, above all, how the participation of engraving artists took place, some with extensive experience at that time and others in the beginning career and who proved to be quite competent over the following years, coming to represent the poetics of printmaking with gallantry. It also proposes an in-depth and detailed look at the document published at the time, “The catalog of the First Biennial of the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo”, which takes care of registering who effectively participated in this basic event. The investigation sought to bring together foreign and, above all, Brazilian engravers, demonstrating the respect given by the great event to all participants, regardless of their nationalities and chosen poetics. The massive influx of other techniques did not eclipse the set of engravings presented. Today and after seventy-two years of the international exhibition of great importance for the national visual arts scene, printmaking continues to propose new paths and embrace immense challenges. The Biennial was just another step taken in the continuous search for recognition.