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Brazil - Art History. Olivier, Ernesto Luis. A unique archive of investigative manuscript notes and photographs of the architecture and decorative arts of colonial Brazil compiled in 1941 comprising: 410 filing cards (11.5 x 17.5cm) with notes in Spanish in ink and pencil, many on both sides, interspersed with sketches of the art objects discussed, arranged under locations setting out the compiler s conclusions of his detailed studies, intended for publication; 636 negatives with 240 positives in 67 envelopes of which 60 give precise locations of where the images were taken by a Voigtländer Brillant camera; 256 photographs (11 enlarged) in slip reference files classified under these locations: Iguarassú, Olinda, Parana, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salva, Santos, Sao Paulo, Tirandentes. The Argentine art historian Olivier was commissioned by his government to study Luso-Brazilian influences in interior design and architecture in the region of the River Plate. He travelled to Brazil between 1935 and 1941 to study the colonial buildings and arts of Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Pernambuco. His article Historia del mueble colonial (in Rosalinda, Buenos Aires, Mar.-Oct.1939) is described by Mario Jose Buschiazzo (Bibliografia de arte colonial argentino, B.A.1947) as the most serious and thorough study of colonial furniture. He begins with Spanish furniture and then continues with that of the conquistadores , the household furniture of the missions, 18th century French influences, Portuguese furniture in the River Plate region and the Jesuit artisans. The results of Olivier s studies in Brazil were published in 1942 in the Memoria of the Comision Nacional de Cultura, and his conclusions led to a series of lectures citing examples of how Luso-Brazilian characteristics had affected the artistic styles of the River Plate. To illustrate his work Olivier assiduously photographed many buildings and furniture of the colonial period. The chief glory of the churches are their sacristies, their Portuguese and Spanish paintings and the baroque furniture copied in the dark woods of Brazil from European models, often influenced by trade relations with the Orient (Indian or Chinese). Seller Inventory # ABE-1500415573287
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