Germanic artists in Brazil: immigration, gender and modernism

• Grant number: 21/14431-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: October 01, 2022
• End date: September 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Art Fundamentals and Criticism
• Principal Investigator: Helouise Lima Costa
• Grantee: Priscila Sacchettin
• Host Institution: Museu de Arte Contemporânea (MAC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 22/16348-5 - German female artists in Brazil: immigration, gender and modernism, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

This project interrogates Brazilian modernism from the intersection of art, gender and immigration. Our purpose is to reconstruct the trajectory of German-speaking female immigrant artists and investigate their contribution to the modernization process of the Brazilian artistic field, especially in São Paulo, in the period between 1930 and 1950. This is a period of frank transformation of the local artistic circuit, and we will try to verify the hypothesis that German-speaking female artists were also among the many agents responsible for such transformation. Therefore, we will proceed with a mapping that aims to raise and organize information about the established and active German-speaking artists in São Paulo during the period indicated above. Then, we will analyze the information brought by the mapping and researched sources, to better understand the impact of their presence in our cultural and artistic environment, in what way and to what extent the immigrant situation affected the art technique(s) they practiced, by what means they sought insertion and acknowledgment, what difficulties they faced because they were German-speaking immigrants and, furthermore, because they were female immigrants. To address these issues, we will make an initial selection within the larger group of names in the mapping, approaching in greater depth the artists whose works are part of the MAC-USP collection: Alice Brill, Barbara Schubert Spanoudis, Charlotta Adlerova, Eleonore Koch, Elisabeth Nobiling, Gisela Eichbaum, Hilde Weber, Hildegard Rosenthal and Lisa Ficker Hofmann. The theoretical framework comes from authors who work on the issue of gender in art history, and also makes use of sociological concepts. (AU)