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Marks and memories:Almir Mavignier and the Painting Studio at Engenho de DentroLucia Reily, José Otávio Pompeu e Silva and collaborators, 2012
Introduction
Research behind the scenes Lucia Reily, Rosa Cristina Maria de Carvalho Chapter 2 Art and culture in the 1940s Maria Heloísa C. Toledo Ferraz Chapter 3 Almir Mavignier and the Painting Studio at Engenho de Dentro José Otávio Pompeu e Silva Chapter 5 Almir Mavignier: Master Apprentice Ana Angélica Albano About the authors |
“Autorretrato” de Emygdio de Barros (1949). Almir Mavignier.
Óleo sobre tela, 35x22cm.
Foto: Fischer-Daber / Acervo do artista
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About the research project and bookFrom the perspective of Delmar Mavignier
Looking back at my fathers life, it reveals a strong sense of internal structure, a grid - similar to those he used for his paintings - that seem to have navigated him throughout his life to become an artist developing his own ideas into paintings, graphics and posters but also an inspiring art curator, organising exhibitions, connecting colleges, artists and later a professor for painting who was respected and loved by his students. But how was this guiding structure developed? What happened in his life that formed his principles?
For him the time as a young becoming artist of 21 years at Engenho de Dentro, setting up the paintings studio was the most pivotal, forward propelling and life forming experience. Also the most challenging experience as a young artist which after six years he could not bare to continue further. After he left and went to europe to focus on his own further development as an artist he still kept close contact with Dra Nise da Silveira and throughout his life, his Memory of these early years were kept in great detail and vivid colours and he used to tell many stories in great detail about the patient artists from Engenho de Dentro. When Almir was in hospital I kept bringing him paintings to look at. Paintings we have created together in the two years before. In the last days I chose to bring the painting he made of Emygdio to the intensive care unit and to the last room he ever stayed at. I believed that if there was a life after death and if our souls continue to exist, then this old patient, artist and friend of his - Emygdio would be the one and one of many waiting to receive him and showing him the new world. Distortion through History The time at Engenho de Dentro was not only important for my father but also turned out to be the most famous chapter in the history of Brazilian psychotherapy and occupational therapie and the truly visionary director of occupational therapy at Engenho de Dentro, Dra Nise da Silveira who gave Almir the opportunity and freedom but also a set of instructions to create the painting studio became famous. But in the decades after, Almir’s involvement and role was reframed and as the story of the director Dra Nise and the painting studio was retold, the role of the young artist who initiated and created the studio was slowly untold and reduced. Sometimes his name was not mentioned any more in exhibitions or under photographs he took. That is probably the inherent collateral damage in process of history telling. The story of Engenho de Dentro became later so popular that theatre plays and fiction films had been created celebrating Nise. And rightly so, but unfortunately the creators of the dramatisations in general cared more for the drama than for authentic accounts and the role of Almir Mavignier was altered and misrepresented. In the film “Nise - The Heart of Madness”, Almir Mavignier was played by a white actor - when the real Almir was mixed race. The film Almir was smoking and around 30 years old - when the authentic Almir never ever smoked and was a young man of 21. The action of some characters were changed without much care for researching and trying to portray according to existing accounts. And because it is likely that in the future the historic accounts might be further distorted, I am very thankful that in 2002 the researcher Dr José Otávio Pompeu e Silva started to research about the painting studio and Engenho de Dentro and decided to look at the role of Almir Mavignier. The research cared for different sources and existing narratives and went into great detail to compare all existing interviews by all participants, including Almir, Dra Nise, artists who visited like Abraham Palatnik, the art critic Mario Pedrosa and also the patients themselves and comparing their accounts but also all existing interviews critically to reconstruct the events that happened, the conditions of the paintings studio but also reconstructing the different narratives. The project also involved a lot of work from Almir and his collaboration, countless phone and later skype conversations and emails that my father answered with great detail. The research was published as a book and on the linked pages I am presenting chapters of this book with kind permission by the authors, José Otávio Pompeu e Silva and Lucia Reily. My aim for future work with the memory of my father is to enable generations of young artists and last but not least my own son Yuma Almir Hiroshi to create and find their own original narratives and to discover their personal “Engenho de Dentro” – their “genious inside” because this what especially artists are set out to do but it can’t be thought through an educational institution. It has to be searched for and found through ones own way of living. And here we can give an example of a young artist how created his own chance and was allowed to do so and the chapters in the book describe how. I will be forever thankful to the team and especially José Otávio Pompeu for this work of nearly 10 years that it took from start of the research to its publication. The team showed much love and rigour to detail but also had the skills to write and present it in a colourful and most interesting way. Enjoy. Delmar Mavignier (Berlin 31.12. 2019) |
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Marks and memories:
Almir Mavignier and the Painting Studio at Engenho de Dentro Lucia Reily, José Otávio Pompeu e Silva and collaborators |
Introduction
Research behind the scenes Lucia Reily, Rosa Cristina Maria de Carvalho Chapter 2 Art and culture in the 1940s Maria Heloísa C. Toledo Ferraz Chapter 3 Almir Mavignier and the Painting Studio at Engenho de Dentro José Otávio Pompeu e Silva Chapter 5 Almir Mavignier: Master Apprentice Ana Angélica Albano About the authors |