Museu Afro Brasil
 | |
 | |
| Established | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Location | Vila Mariana, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Website | http://www.museuafrobrasil.org.br |
Museum Afro Brazil is a history, artistic and ethnological museum dedicated to the research, preservation and exhibition of objects and works related to the cultural sphere of blacks in Brazil. It is a public institution held by the Secretariat for Culture of the São Paulo State and managed by the Museu Afro Brasil Association. The museum is located in the Ibirapuera Park, a major urban park in São Paulo. The Manoel da Nóbrega Pavilion, designed by Oscar Niemeyer in 1959, houses the Museum. It holds around 6 thousands items and pieces, amongst them are paintings, sculptures, photos, documents, archives etc. created between the 15th Century and current times. The aggregation of pieces includes many works of the African and Afro-Brazilian cultural spheres, ranging from subjects and topics such as religion, labor and art to the African Diaspora and slavery, whilst registering and affirming the historical trajectory and the African influences in the construction of the Brazilian society. The Museum also offers a diverse range of cultural and didactic activities, temporary expositions, and posses a theater and a specialized library.
History
The Afro-Brasil Museum was established in 2004 by Emanoel Araújo, former director and curator of the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, artist from Bahia. Araujo, since 2004 has been director of the museum.
Organization
The Afro-Brasil collection is divided into several sections with different areas: Africa, labor, slavery, sacred and profane, Afro Brazilian religions, history and memory and the arts.
In the 20th century art section, there are important works made by Afro-Brazilian artists such as Benedito José Tobias, Rubem Valentim, Heitor dos Prazeres, Ronaldo Rego, Octavio Araujo, Manuel Messiah, Caetano Dias, José Hyginus, Tiberius, Jorge Luis dos Anjos as well works by Master Didi. Other parts of the Afro Brasil Museum art collection includem works by Madalena Schwartz, Sergio Valle Duarte, Alfred Weidinger, Joseph Pace, André Vilaron, Eustaquio Neves and Walter Firmo.
The Afro-Brasil has the largest Afro-descendant collection of the Americas, with more than 5,000 objects, including paintings, sculptures, lithographys, photographs, documents and ethnological objects. The museum offers many different aspects of Afro-Brazilian cultural spheres such as the religion, work, art, African diaspora and slavery in Brazil. The Afro-Brasil museum also exhibits the African influences in the construction of Brazilian society.
Events
In 2014, for the tenth anniversary of the museum (2004–14) and for the Football World Cup Brasil 2014, the museum set up the exhibition "O Negro no Futebol Brasileiro – A arte e Os Artistas"(The black man in the brasilian soccer - The art and its artists)[1] highlighting the presence of soccer players of african ascenstry, such as Pelé, Garrincha, Didi, Djalma Santos, Barbosa, Zizinho and Jairzinhoand their importance in Brazilian history and the construction of the Brazilian national identity. Besides the photos and the caricatures of the notorious Brazilian soccer players, a part of the exposition is the establishment of the "Stadium", the "Football Votive Masks" by the two artists from Benin, Aston and Kifouli[2] and "Mundial Brasileiro", the rotating costume jewelry sculpture portraying a large soccer ball by the Italian artist Joseph Pace and the work "Diamante Negro - Inventor da Bicicleta" (2014)", an acrylic spray on canvas, by the graffiti Brazilian artist, Speto.[3]
