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Portinari's Library of Congress Murals
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 "The Library of Congress now possesses a group of Candido Portinari's outstanding works. The Hispanic Foundation
in the Library of Congress was opened in 1939 in a series of apartments especially redecorated by the distinguished
architect Paul Phillipe Cret in the Spanish Rennaissance style. From the time of the inauguration it was hoped that the
two rooms that serve as vestibules could be decorated by some outstanding mural painter of Latin America. Since the
Foundation already possessed a mural of the arms of Columbus signifying the Spanish contribution to American
history, it was felt that it would be appropriate to entrust the walls of these rooms to a Brazilian so that the Portuguese
speaking people of America might be represented in the decoration of the Hispanic Room.
Candido Portinari seemed just the person for the task. Accordingly, in November 1940, Mr. Archibald MacLeish, the Librarian of Congress, invited the painter to consider the preparation of sketches for the murals in the Hispanic Foundation. Portinari, who had just returned to Brazil from his exhibition in New York, knew the space which had been allotted and was enthusiastic about the project. The Brazilian Government, welcoming the invitation, provided funds for his return to Washington in August 1941, to prepare sketches for the Hispanic Foundation murals. In a series of discussions with Mr. MacLeish Portinari planned the themes of four large paintings and shortly afterwards presented gouache sketches for them which were approved by the Librarian and the Architect of the Capitol, Mr. David Lynn. To enable Portinari to execute the murals, a fund equal to that already appropriated by the Brazilian Government was obtained from the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs through the good offices of the Committee for Inter-American Artistic and Intellectual Relations, composed of Messrs. Henry Allen Moe, Frederick Keppel and David Stevens. Candido Portinari began to paint on the walls of the Hispanic Foundation late in October, assisted by his brother Luiz, who had come from Rio de Janeiro especially for the undertaking. Two months later the work was completed. On January 12, 1942, the Portinari murals were formally inaugurated in a ceremony in the Hispanic Foundation during which the voices of the Brazilian ambassador, Senhor Carlos Martins Pereira e Sousa, Mr. Nelson Rockefeller, Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, and Dr. Lewis Hanke, the Foundation's Director, were broadcast by short-wave to Brazil.
The reaction of critics, artists and the public to Portinari's murals has from the first been highly favorable. Summing up
the general feeling of those who have seen them, Mr. MacLeish stated in a letter to His Excellency, President Getulio
Vargas of Brazil, whose personal interest was largely responsible for making possible Portinari's trip to Washington,
that the Library "possesses not merely beautiful paintings that illustrate the field of interests of the Hispanic
Foundation but also a highly original and important contribution to American art." |
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(*) Smith, Robert.Candido Portinari: Brazilian artist as cultural Ambassadorurals by Candido Portinari in the Hispanic Foundation of the Library of Congress. Washington,1943.32p. |
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send your comments and suggestions to pp@portinari.org.br
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