TheParqueLageSchoolofVisualArts

After spending a few years living in New York, the Rio-born artist Rubens Gerchman returned to Rio de Janeiro in 1975. An emblematic painter of the scene that renewed Brazilian visual arts in the 1960s, his return was marked not by the works everyone already knew him for, but by an institutional and educational initiative that would change the city forever. Through his vision and suggestion, the Escola de Artes Visuais, known as EAV, was created on the grounds of Parque Lage, in Jardim Botânico, replacing the work of the Instituto de Belas Artes do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.

Image description: This is a black and white photograph of a public event. In the lower part of the image, several sheets of newspaper are spread out on the floor, covering much of the space. On the left, a woman in a dress is sitting on a bench, looking forward. In the background, a person is standing, holding a small object. Further back, two other individuals are standing, talking. Behind them, there is a wall with several framed pictures and a panel with drawings and text.

Its first four years, under Gerchman's management, provided Rio's art scene with a space of aesthetic and intellectual freedom. With free courses and a strong presence of painting done in large collective studios, the EAV gradually renewed the languages and generations of artists who attended it. In its space, besides the visual arts, literature (with a strong presence of poets from the so-called "mimeograph generation" or marginal poetry), theater (as a space for rehearsals and courses of fundamental groups of the city such as Asdrúbal Trouxe o Trombone), cinema, dance and music (with countless shows by big names of MPB and bands unknown to the general public), the former house of opera singer Besanzoni Lage brought together an immense number of new talents and ordinary people – some figures say they had as many as two thousand students simultaneously – who sought to broaden their relationship with culture.

Amid workshops, courses, debates, and creative actions that engaged the community, Gerchman promoted a series of pedagogical experiences that expanded the quality and variety of artistic practices in the city. Some of the impressive names who passed through there during this first period of ferment were, for example, Lélia Gonzalez, Mário Pedrosa, Lina Bo Bardi, Antonio Dias, Hélio Eichbauer, Celeida Tostes, Roberto Magalhães, Xico Chaves, Alair Gomes, Cacaso, Dionísio Del Santo, Chacal, Claudio Ulpiano, Joaquim Tenreiro, Rosa Magalhães, Sérgio Santeiro, and Marcos Flaksman.

Image description: This is a color photograph of a group of people dancing in an open outdoor space. The image shows several people in motion, with a man seen from behind wearing white pants and a striped shirt standing out, appearing to be leading the dance. In front of him, several women dance in formation, some wearing summer clothing such as shorts and blouses. In the background, there is a mountain covered in green vegetation and palm trees along the shore. The sky is clear and blue, suggesting a sunny day.

The fruits of this transformation of the former Instituto Estadual de Belas Artes into the Escola de Artes Visuais produced immediate impacts in the following decade, crystallized in emblematic exhibitions – as in the case of the famous How About You, Generation 80? – or in other landmark initiatives in the city's culture, such as the creation, in 1980, of Circo Voador. To this day, the EAV continues its vocation as an arts school, training a large part of the Rio scene and functioning as a space for encounters, learning, and resistance.