São Paulo in dispute for the past: the Monumento à Independência by Ettore Ximenes as a place of memory

• Grant number: 13/08905-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2013
• End date: February 14, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Fundamentals of Architecture and Urbanism
• Principal Investigator: Paulo César Garcez Marins
• Grantee: Michelli Cristine Scapol Monteiro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 14/14185-5 - The monument to the independence by Ettore Ximenes and the artistic exchange Between Brazil and Italy, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

This research project's theme is the process of the establishment of the Ipiranga hill, and most especially the Monumento à Independência (Monument to the Independence), as a "place of memory" of the political emancipation of Brazil. The monument was chosen by a public poll taken during the celebrations of the First Centenary of the Brazilian Independence, therefore in a moment of recreation of the national identities facing the new Brazilian political conjuncture introduced by the happening of the Republic. The project proposes to analyze the poll and the debates caused by it, both during the process and after the choice of the winner. Another fundamental point is understanding what would have motivated the choice of Ximenes's work, and in order to do so it is of the utmost importance to understand this Italian artist's path and his insertion into the Brazilian artistic medium, the works he had made in Italy, Argentina and Brazil, and the possible connections between them and the monument in question. It is also intended to analyze the Monument as an important document of the time during which it was produced, therefore as an instrument of rememberance of the events considered, by the Paulistas, as relevant to the Brazilian Independence, also observing the dialogue between the sculpture and the decoration created by Affonso Taunay for the Museu Paulista and premiered during the First Centenary's celebrations. It is believed that the study of these issues will help understand the need of a "place of memory" of Independence, helping to reveal a wider project of affirmation of the city of São Paulo as the symbolical center of the country (in which the Museu Paulista also participated), in evident clash with the city of Rio de Janeiro in the establishment of an official Brazilian history. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

MONTEIRO, Michelli Cristine Scapol. São Paulo in the dispute for the past: the \Monument to Independence\, by Ettore Ximenes. 2017. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU/SBI) São Paulo.