Memory and Architecture

3: Designed Memories: The Roots of Brazilian Modernism

chapter three Designed Memories The Roots of Brazilian Modernism FERNANDO LARA To the memory of Lúcio Costa (1902–1998) We must give Brazil that which it does not have, and for that reason it has not lived until today; we must give Brazil a soul, and for this every sacrifice is grandiose, sublime. —Mário de Andrade, letter to Carlos Drummond, 1924 Memory and Modernism Memory and modernism do not appear to go together at first. Born to overcome the dominance of nineteenth-century neoclassicism, modern architecture reinforced the idea of rupture with the past, any past.1 This position is not exclusive to architectural modernism. Modernity assumes that the present is a new era; it is not a continuation of the past, but rather it grew out of the rupture with past traditions.2 As a universal concept, modernity should go hand in hand with local modernization. Nonetheless, the| 79 turbulent conflict between modernity and modernization gave rise to modernism .3 Coming from plural and diverse roots, and committed to the ideas of modernity and modernization, modern architecture was supposed to have no memory, and no heritage. Yet by scratching the surface of rhetorical articulation , one perceives that memory was always there, if not in an active role, at least as the background against which the new ideas presented themselves. Memory has always been modernism’s alterity,4 or, that “other” against which one defines oneself by opposition. This seems to be the case in Europe, where the past was identified with an unbearable social structure, and modernism promised a new (and better ) social order. Italy is exemplary with regard to the role of memory as otherness, since having the heavier and most exuberant past, it generated the most radical avant-garde rupture: the futurism of Sant’Elia and Marinetti.5 Perry Anderson’s idea that modernism only flourishes where the modern and the traditional are in conflict would reinforce the role of memory as an alterity for the modern to come to existence.6 However, in other places, the presence of past traditions has not been so dominant. In the Americas, our heritage was yet to be defined. While Frank Lloyd Wright was trying to blend modernism with the prairie tradition in search of an identity, Brazilians were doing something similar, giving memory a different role in the history of their modernism. Brazilian Modernism Overview Brazilian modern architecture is internationally known for the outstanding examples of free-form in reinforced concrete, built around the 1940s and 1950s, and labeled “anti-rationalist pioneers” by the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner.7 To a lesser degree, Brazilian Modernism is also known for having achieved a level of popular acceptance by blending together the style of the modernist avant-garde with that of the traditional heritage.8 This combination of international formal elements and local traditions also marks the foundations of the formal and symbolic achievements of Brazilian modern architecture. In 1930, Getulio Vargas, the revolutionary commandant raised to the presidency, began a strong effort to increase both industrial and educational modernization. Regarding industrialization, the objective was to reduce the 80 | Fernando Lara dependence on imported, manufactured goods and at the same time diversify Brazilian exports. At that point, the Brazilian economy, which was based on agricultural products, had dropped violently after the stock market crash of 1929. In education, the objective was to reduce illiteracy by providing elementary school for the masses and searching for the roots of “Brazilianess.” One of the most intriguing characteristics of Vargas’s government was the combination of an authoritarian regime with intellectual freedom.9 In fact, many of the artists and intellectuals who had participated in the Semana de Arte Moderna in 192210 were now working for the new government. Their task was the formulation of a new Brazilian identity and the rediscovery of the country’s culture.11 This task was in tune with the apogee of nationalism during the 1930s, as described by historian Eric Hobsbawm.12 More than searching for Brazil’s heritage, these artists and intellectuals were constructing one specific memory that conveyed their own interests. This was done by collecting from among their many ancestors those who better fulfilled their future plans. I will explore this topic more deeply, but it is worth pointing out here that, since the 1930s, the Barroco Mineiro, or the artistic expression of the eighteenth-century mining society of Minas Gerais, has...