“The Getty Foundation’s Keeping It Modern initiative, which has funded conservation planning for modernist buildings around the world, including Brazil, has demonstrated the importance of such unique archival collections for preservation efforts,” said Joan Weinstein, director of the Getty Foundation. “The history of postwar buildings in Brazil is essential to the development of modernism as a whole, and saving these collections is critical to understanding that legacy.”
Among Getty’s Keeping It Modern projects in Brazil have been Lino Bo Bardi’s Museu de Arte de São Paulo and Casa de Vidro, João Batista Vilanova Artigas’s Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of São Paulo, and Jorge Ferreira’s Arthur Neiva Pavilion. Of the 77 sites Getty is helping to conserve worldwide, the majority involve the development of conservation management plans that draw heavily on archival materials such as those housed in the Jorge Machado Moreira building.
“Preservation professionals rely on collections like these to care for modern buildings,” said Silvio Oksman, an internationally recognized preservation architect based in São Paulo who has led several Keeping It Modern grants in Brazil. “We consult drawings, photographs, building models, and other historic documents to get the fullest picture of how architects conceived of their projects and ensure we preserve this 20th-century heritage in the best way. It is a huge relief to the field to know these crucial materials will be saved.”
Project Coordinators:
Andrés Passaro—Associate Professor at FAU UFRJ / NPD Coordinator
Ana Slade—Adjunct Professor at FAU UFRJ / NPD Council Member
Carlos Feferman—Associate Professor at FAU UFRJ/ Architecture Department Chair
NPD Team
Cláudio Muniz Vianna—NPD Archivist
Jonas Delecave—Adjunct Professor at FAU UFRJ
Mara Eskinazi—Associate Professor at FAU/UFRJ
Maria Cristina Cabral—Associate Professor at FAU UFRJ/ NPD Council Member
Marina Correia—Architect anda Harvard Architecture Professor/ NPD Council External Member
Mauricio Mattos—NPD FAU Archivist
Ozana Hannesch—Astronomy Museum/ Conservator- restoration of paper
Document Conservator-Restoration (to be supported by Getty)
Benvinda de Jesus Ribeiro—Associate Professor at EBA UFRJ / Conservation Team Coordinator
Thais Helena de Almeida—National Library/ Conservator-restoration of paper Team Coordinator
Ana Paula Corrêa—Adjunct Professor at EBA UFRJ / Conservator-restoration of paper
Sandra Baruki—Conservator-restoration of photography Coordinator