A Lifetime of Collecting: Pietro M. Bardi and Lina Bo Bardi’s Archive

Abstract

Thirty years after its creation, this article provides insights into the Instituto Bardi’s archive, responsible for over 40,000 items from Lina Bo and Pietro Maria Bardi’s collection. It discusses the Bardi couple’s intention of creating an archive within the space of their dwelling as part of a broader preservation plan of their design, which involved the foundation of a cultural institution and the historical listing of their residence, Casa de Vidro, in Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil, along with the furniture and artwork within it. Furthermore, this essay discusses the main challenges faced in the establishment and operation of an architectural archive in the Brazilian cultural, economic and political context, as well as the dynamics involved in the preservation of its items in parallel to the dissemination of Lina and Pietro’s oeuvre. In addition to discussing and examining matters specific to the Bardis’ archive collection, this essay raises questions of archival systematization that need to be addressed according to specific situations, such as accessibility of the contents, loan policies, and financial stability.

Keywords:

• architectural archives
• Instituto Bardi
• Casa de Vidro
• architecture media collection
• adaptive reuse
• Lina Bo Bardi

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledge the collaboration of the researchers Fabiana Perazolo and Flora Bello Milanez in the preparation of this essay and the discussions which significantly contributed to it.

Notes

1. Lina Bo Bardi cited in Marcelo Carvalho Ferraz, ed., Lina Bo Bardi (São Paulo: Instituto Bardi/Casa de Vidro, Romano Guerra Editora, 2018), 327.

2. Ibid.

3. Officially named Instituto Lina Bo e P.M. Bardi. In 2015 the Institute’s Board, following my proposal, voted in favor to adopt the simplified name Instituto Bardi as a communication strategy, updating graphically its logo and adding “Casa de Vidro” to it.

4. Lina Bo Bardi’s archive accounts for over 11,500 documents of which over 6,500 are drawings related to her professional activity, as well as a collection of 15,000 photographs of all projects carried out throughout her life. Pietro Maria Bardi’s archive comprises 12,000 items ca.

5. Lina Bo Bardi, “Curriculum Literário,” in Lina Bo Bardi, ed. Marcelo Carvalho Ferraz (São Paulo: Instituto Bardi / Casa de Vidro, Romano Guerra Editora, 2018), 11.

6. Renato Anelli, “The Bardi Couple’s Project in Brazil: From Cultural Action to the Construction of Their Own History,” in Casa de vidro: Lina Bo Bardi Architect. Conservation Management Plan, ed. Renato Anelli; supervised by Marcelo Suzuki (São Paulo: Instituto Bardi / Casa de Vidro, 2019).

7. Agnaldo Farias, “Architecture Exhibitions in Brazil, A Brief History,” Revista arq.urb 20 (December 2017): 135–139.

8. Ibid., 137.

9. Jordan Kauffman, Drawing on Architecture: The Object of Lines, 1970–1990 (Cambridge, MA; London, UK: MIT Press, 2018).

10. I thank Fabiana Perazolo and Flora Bello Milanez for suggesting to look at the work of Eduardo Augusto Costa.

11. Eduardo Augusto Costa, “Arquivos e Coleções de Arquitetura: A revisão historiográfica em debate,” Proceedings of the 13^o Seminário DOCOMOMO Brasil, Salvador, October 2019.

12. See: http://www.arq.ufmg.br/museu/index.php/laboratorio-de-fotodocumentacao-sylvio-vasconcellos (accessed February 20, 2021).

13. Eliana de Azevedo Marques, “Serviço de Biblioteca e Informação da FAU USP,” Revista da pós 20 (December 2006): 226–238. See: https://www.revistas.usp.br/posfau/article/download/43495/47117/ (accessed June 22, 2020).

14. Costa, “Arquivos e coleções de arquitetura.”

15. This followed Paulo Mendes’ 2015 donation of the project Museu Nacional dos Coches and the 2018 donation of seven architecture projects to the same institution. “ACERVO DE PAULO MENDES DA ROCHA NA CASA DA ARQUITECTURA.” See: http://casadaarquitectura.pt/acervo-paulo-mendes-da-rocha-na-casa-da-arquitectura/ (accessed November 19, 2020).

16. José Lira, “Arquitetura, acervos e barbárie,” Folha de São Paulo, December 9, 2020. See: https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/opiniao/2020/09/arquitetura-acervos-e-barbarie.shtml (accessed November 19, 2020). Giacomo Pirazzoli, “Paulo Mendes da Rocha, os arquivos e as feridas coloniais do Brasil,” Vitruvius, Resenhas Online 19, 226.01 (October 2020). See: https://www.vitruvius.com.br/revistas/read/resenhasonline/19.226/7906 (accessed December 9, 2020).

17. PORTAL VITRUVIUS, “Um abraço no Paulo. Em respeito a Paulo Mendes da Rocha,” Drops, Vitruvius 21 (September 2020): 156.03. See: https://www.vitruvius.com.br/revistas/read/drops/20.156/7882 (accessed February 20, 2021).

18. FAU USP: https://www.instagram.com/p/CE60_iSgnoT/ (accessed November 19, 2020).

19. See: Casa da Arquitetura instagram account https://www.instagram.com/p/CFAjH8uFNXV/ and open letter at https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/opiniao/2020/09/o-sentido-publico-e-universal-dos-acervos-de-arquitetura.shtml (accessed January 10, 2021).

20. “Rede de acervos de arquitetura e urbanismo,” Institute of Architects of Brazil, São Paulo. Translation by author. See: https://www.iabsp.org.br/rede-de-acervos-de-arquitetura-e-urbanismo/ (accessed November 19, 2020).

21. Randall C. Jimerson, “Archives for all. The importance of Archives in Society,” 15th Congresso Brasiliero de Arquivilogia, June 2008. See: https://brapci.inf.br/index.php/res/download/56666 or https://my.tlu.edu/ICS/icsfs/JimersonArchivesForAll18pg.pdf?target=0df0c395-ce3e-4678-9ade-19fb68245749 (accessed March 19, 2021).

22. Accounts of friends and collaborators of the couple often suggest that Lina was initially reluctant about Pietro’s idea of creating a foundation, but later embraced it.

23. Pietro Maria Bardi, letter to Modesto Carvalhosa, October 29, 1985. Council for the Defense of Historical, Archaeological, Artistic and Tourist Heritage, process number 24938.

24. Deliberation document for the listing of Casa de Vidro by Condephaat, signed by Modesto Souza Barros Carvalhosa in September 1986.

25. The name Instituto Quadrante had to be changed due to a namerights reclamation. It was changed to Instituto Lina Bo e P.M. Bardi, now named and communicated as Instituto Bardi.

26. Instituto Quadrante’s foundation document, São Paulo, May 15, 1990.

27. Ibid.

28. Lina Bo Bardi, “Stones Against Diamonds (1947),” in Stones Against Diamonds, ed. Lina Bo Bardi (London: Architectural Association, 2013), 35.

29. Fabiana Perazolo and Flora Bello Milanez drew my attention to Lina’s early collection habits and sensibly linked it to ‘The hand of the Brazilian people’ exhibition, which indeed exposes Lina Bo Bardi’s interest in collecting.

30. Eugênia Gorini Esmeraldo, “Breve comentário sobre o papel de Pietro Maria Bardi e a fundação do MASP,” Modernidades Latina: Os Italianos e os Centros do Modernismo Latino-americano, seminar organized by Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo. See: http://www.mac.usp.br/mac/conteudo/academico/publicacoes/anais/modernidade/pdfs/EUG_PORT.pdf (accessed February 20, 2021).

31. In 2016 Instituto Bardi was granted $195,000 USD by the Keeping It Modern Program of the Getty Foundation. The project was coordinated by Renato Anelli with the collaboration of Marcelo Suzuki, a team from the Instituto de Arquitetura e Urbanismo de São Carlos and myself representing Instituto Bardi.

32. Marcelo Ferraz interviewed by Maíra Teixeira, in Maíra Teixeira, “As casas de Lina Bo Bardi e os sentidos de habitat” (Doctoral dissertation, Brasília, Universidade de Brasilia, 2014), 214.

33. São Paulo State Research Support Foundation. The project was prepared in late 2009 and approved in April 2011.

34. The Bardi’s archive was quite fragmented since many things were left in his office at MASP, making the archive belonging to the institute only a portion of Bardi’s life collection.

35. Anna Carboncini, “Private Collections: Constitution, Archives and Dissemination,” Architecture Archives Seminar, Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil, São Paulo (February 6, 2020). See: https://www.iabsp.org.br/?noticias=acompanhe-ao-vivo-o-seminario-acervos-de-arquitetura-iabsp-itau-cultural (accessed February 20, 2021).

36. http://www.institutobardi.com.br/busca_banco.asp (accessed February 20, 2021).

37. Maygene Daniels, “Arrangement of Architectural Records,” in A Guide to the Archival Care of Architectural Records, 19th–20th Centuries (Paris: International Council on Archives (ICA), Section on Architectural Records, 2000), 75. See: https://www.ica.org/sites/default/files/ArchitectureEN.pdf (accessed June 23, 2020).

38. The Venice Charter, Italy, 1964. See: http://portal.iphan.gov.br/uploads/ckfinder/arquivos/Carta%20de%20Veneza%201964.pdf (accessed June 23, 2020).

39. David Peyceré, “Access and Dissemination: Research and Exhibitions,” in A Guide to the Archival Care of Architectural Records, 19th–20th Centuries (Paris: International Council on Archives (ICA), Section on Architectural Records, 2000), 119.

40. Lina Bo Bardi will be granted at the inauguration of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition the Special Golden Lion award, in memoriam, for Lifetime Achievement from La Biennale di Venezia. This was announced on March 8th 2021, see https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/lina-bo-bardi-special-golden-lion-lifetime-achievement-memoriam (accessed February 20, 2021).

41. Lina Bo Bardi, “An Architectural Lesson (2013),” in Stones Against Diamonds, ed. Bo Bardi, 116–117.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sol Camacho

Sol Camacho is an architect, curator and urban designer leading RADDAR, an innovative practice in research and design acting in Sao Paulo and Mexico City. In 2018, Sol was the co-curator of the exhibition Walls of Air, for the Brazilian Pavilion for the 16th International Exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Since 2017, she is the cultural director of the Instituto Bardi / Casa de Vidro, developing publications, exhibitions, and projects in partnerships with local and international cultural agents. Since graduating from Harvard University GSD in 2008 she has taught, written and lectured internationally on architecture, urban design, and conservation.