ABSTRACT
This chapter presents Mário Pedrosa’s “critical itinerary” through an examination of his 1958 “Projeto para o museu de Brasília” (Project for the museum of Brasília) and its possible connections with and divergence from André Malraux’s book Le musée imaginaire (1947). During the construction of the new Brazilian capital, Pedrosa most likely had several discussions with the architect Oscar Niemeyer about an art museum for the city. In response, Pedrosa wrote a letter in which he explained his idea for the museum. The art critic and political activist proposed a museum of copies (photographic reproductions, casts, and models) that would serve documentary and educational purposes. Facing the impossibility of establishing a complete museum in the Brazilian political capital, he justified his idea by describing the precarious condition of the modern art museums in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. A study of Pedrosa’s proposal sheds light on the history of modern Brazilian art and its distinctive characteristics in the post-1945 global context. The proposal emerged during a period of rapid transformation in Brazil’s political and artistic scene. At that time Pedrosa was also critically engaged in debates about Brasília’s construction, links between art and architecture, and the Neoconcrete movement, and he was deeply involved in institutional work and museological projects. Connecting his proposal with Malraux’s book-museum situates it within a larger critical panorama. This connection is not only an attempt to problematize Pedrosa’s “critical itinerary” but also to explore the notion of late modernity vis à vis Brasília’s construction.
