Danilo Di Prete’s presence in Brazil, from the 1940s to 1970s

• Grant number: 14/17011-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: December 01, 2014
• End date: November 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Plastic Arts
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Ana Gonçalves Magalhães
• Grantee: Renata Dias Ferraretto Moura Rocco
• Host Institution: Museu de Arte Contemporânea (MAC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the influence of the Italian artist Danilo Di Prete (Pisa, 1911 - São Paulo, 1985) on Brazilian artistic environment from 1946 - when he came to live in Brazil - to the 70s. During the precedent period, living in Italy and beginning his artistic activity as an autodidact, he witnessed the fascist regime and its art system, which embraced some art exhibitions such as the Rome Quadrennial. Di Prete brought such experience to Brazil, and according to himself, it was based on that he had the idea of suggesting to Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho the creation of São Paulo Biennial. The paternity of this idea is a very controversial issue, but there is a record (an audio cassette that belongs to his daughter Giuliana Di Prete Campari) where Di Prete reinforces it. Di Prete won the 1st prize of Brazilian Painting precisely at the I São Paulo Biennial, which brought about a huge debate due to his Italian origin (he had been living in São Paulo only for 5 years), and also due to the plastic solution applied in his award-wining artwork "Lemons", which showed a recovery of the French Cubism but reinterpreted in an Italian manner - a kind of language well spread within the Italian environment since the 40s. Di Prete's legacy was important in the Brazilian artistic context and so far doesn't have an academic research that approaches his artistic production and also his role as a cultural agent between Italy-Brazil. Thus, this research goal, is to be a great contribution to the Brazilian historiography of Art. (AU)

Academic Publications

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

ROCCO, Renata Dias Ferraretto Moura. Danilo Di Prete in action: the making of an artist in the exhibition system of the São Paulo Biennial. 2018. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Comunicações e Artes (ECA/SBD) São Paulo.