Immigrantandexiledartists,Rioasaninternationalcity

As a capital and port city, Rio de Janeiro always had among its residents a considerable number of immigrants coming from other parts of the world. Nothing compares, however, to the period when Europe plunged into conflicts that culminated in the long agony of World War II. Starting in the early 1930s, this number grew considerably, bringing a wave of artists of different nationalities to the city – some, passing through, others never to return to their countries of origin again.

If we can pinpoint a landmark in the city for this moment, we can start in the year 1932, when the Polish painter Bruno Lechovski, having arrived in Brazil in 1926, began working as a member of the Núcleo Bernardelli and organizing the Casa Internacional do Artista, located in the Odeon Building, in Cinelândia. At the Núcleo, being older than the collective's young enthusiasts, he became a notable teacher to key names in Brazilian art, such as Milton Dacosta and José Pancetti.

Besides them, two young Japanese men who migrate to São Paulo seek out Lechovski's and the Núcleo Bernardelli's classes as a way to broaden their art. The Japanese Yoshia Takaoka and Yuji Tamaki arrive in Rio in 1934 and become part of the "nucleanos'" activities. Lechovski was a prominent artist in the 1930s generation, creating notable exhibitions – such as the solo show he holds at the Palace Hotel in 1932, or his revolutionary idea of a "portable exhibition," which he named Cinetom. With the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Lechovski begins using his house on Ladeira da Glória as a shelter for several European refugees. Unfortunately, he passes away in 1941 due to heart problems.

Image description: This is a painting depicting a coastal landscape. On the left side, we see a calm sea with a row of houses and buildings stretching along the shoreline. In the center, there is a series of rocky mountains, with a more pronounced formation standing out as it rises above the others. On the right, there is an architectural structure that appears to be a fort or fortress, located on a hill. The sky is clear and sunny, giving the scene a light yellow tone.

Another fundamental name for the international presence in art from Rio de Janeiro is that of Theodor Heuberger. In 1931, the German founded the Pro-Arte Society of Art, Sciences and Letters, a long-lived institution whose initial actions aimed at spreading German arts in Brazil. Already in 1928, he held the first exhibition of German art in Brazil at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes, with 149 paintings and sculptures by 92 artists. In 1930, he brought the German Exhibition of Books and Graphic Arts, presented that same year in Leipzig – and whose works had an impact on Brazilian artists and printmakers such as Lívio Abramo. The following year, since he had received most of his training in Germany, Guignard was invited to hold his first solo exhibition at Pro-Arte, forging ties with the institution and taking part in group shows of German artists organized in the following years. In 1936, Heuberger founded Casa e Jardim on Rua Buenos Aires, an establishment that functioned as a gallery. As the migration of war refugees grew, the role of Pro-Arte grew increasingly as well, though it adopted a greater emphasis on classical music over the following decades.

During this period, therefore, the flow of foreign artists gave artists residing in Rio de Janeiro the possibility of exchanges and interactions that, in the previous decade, would only have been possible through the famous trips awarded by the Salons. Names linked to the European avant-gardes circulated in the artistic milieu of the time – such as the Japanese painter, draftsman, and graphic artist Tsughharu Foujita, whose brief four-month presence in 1932 produced more sustained relationships with Portinari (who created a dialogue with his work) and Dante Milano (who temporarily sheltered him at the residence they had in Lapa), and Ismael Nery, who portrayed him on canvas. He also held a well-attended exhibition at the Palace Hotel, selling all of his works.

Image description: The image is a watercolor painting. At the center is a human face with black hair and round glasses. The background is yellow with black lines radiating from the face. The figure is wearing a light blue shirt. In the upper right corner there is a signature, but it is not clear enough to read.

Between 1930 and 1940, the number of international names arriving in Rio de Janeiro – among painters, sculptors, and printmakers – is astonishing. Besides those already mentioned, there is the Belgian George Wanbach, the Italian Enrico Bianco, the American Polly McDowell, the Japanese Tadashi Kaminagai, the Czech Milan Dusek, the Romanian Emeric Marcier, and the couple formed by the Portuguese Maria Helena Vieira and the Hungarian Arpad Szénes.

Image description: This is a painting depicting a rural scene. On the left side, we see trees with curved trunks and vibrant green foliage. In the center, there is a white house with a red roof, located in a green field. On the right, there is a seated human figure, wearing blue and white clothing, apparently resting in the shade of the trees. The background features more vegetation and a distant structure, possibly a house or building. The predominant color is green, with touches of blue and red. In the lower left corner, it is signed "Wambach".

The presence of the couple Vieira da Silva and Szénes in Brazil — initially settled in a hotel in Copacabana, then in a boarding house on Rua Marques de Abrantes, until finally settling at the Hotel Internacional, in Rio — lasted seven years and had a strong impact on the local and national scene. At the Ateliê Silvestre, set up in the hotel in Santa Teresa, Szénes offered various courses and classes with other exiled artists, such as the Austrian Axi Leschocheck and the German Henrique Boese.

Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of two people on a balcony overlooking a mountainous landscape. The woman is on the left, wearing a long black dress with embroidered details. She is holding the hand of the man to her right, who is standing with one arm resting on the balcony railing. He is wearing an open white shirt and light-colored pants. In the background, there is a metal railing and a panoramic view of mountains covered in vegetation.

In addition to taking part in various exhibitions and working with graphic art for the city's newspapers and magazines, their experience in the European artistic scene in the 1920s and their intense political activity amid the situations of the European war (Szénes was Jewish, and Vieira da Silva had become stateless through her marriage to the Hungarian) were fundamental to producing a dialogue of art and friendship with artists such as Carlos Scliar, Djanira, and Almir Mavigner, as well as poets and writers such as Lúcio Cardoso, Murilo Mendes, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, and Cecília Meirelles. Bringing her strong abstractionist streak, the painter presents a path that was, until then, practically unprecedented in the country.