Profili and González Robles: Biennial Events and Exhibitions between Friendship and Geopolitics

Abstract

Drawing on archival correspondence, this paper analyzes the relationship between Luis González Robles, Franco’s curator responsible for international displays of Spanish art, and Arturo Profili, the general secretary of the first five editions of the São Paulo Biennial until the late 1950s. Exploring this micro-history of rapprochement, the paper shows how these figures influenced the turbulent scene of cultural negotiations during the first decades of the Cold War, and it lays bare the political bias underpinning the decision of the prizes of the São Paulo and Venice Biennials. This study explores the balance that was achieved through the triangulation of three territories—Latin America, Europe, and the US—reified at the biennials of São Paulo and Venice, and the Spanish art exhibitions held in the United States.

Keywords:

• art biennials
• geopolitics
• Cold War art
• São Paulo Biennial
• Venice Biennial
• Museum of Modern Art
• Spanish art
• Latin American art
• US American art

Notes

1 Miguel Cabañas Bravo, La política artística del franquismo. El hito de la Bienal Hispano-Americana de Arte (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1996); Leandro Galella & Marcelo Giménez, “La bienal hispanoamericana de arte. Representaciones nacionales, regionalismos y dictaduras,” Boletín de Arte 19.e011 (September 2019): 1–9.

2 Lorenzo Delgado Gómez-Escalonilla, Acción cultural y política exterior: la configuración de la diplomacia cultural durante el régimen franquista (1936–1945) (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1992).

3 Francisco Alambert and Polyanna Canhête, As Bienais de São Paulo: Da Era do Museu à Era dos Curadores (1951–2001) (São Paulo: Boitempo Editorial, 2004); Renata Dias Ferrareto Moura Rocco, “Danilo Di Prete em ação: a construção de um artista no sistema expositivo da Bienal de São Paulo” (PhD thesis, Universidade de São Paulo, 2018).

4 Ana Gonçalves Magalhães, “A Bienal de São Paulo, o debate artístico dos anos 1950 e a constituição do primeiro Museu de Arte Moderna do Brasil,” Museologia & Interdisciplinaridade 7.IV (Oct/Nov 2015): 112–129.

5 Claire F. Fox, Making Art Panamerican: Cultural Policy and the Cold War (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013).

6 Alessandro Armato, “Una trama escondida: la OEA y las participaciones latinoamericanas en las primeras cinco Bienales de São Paulo,” Caiana 6 (primer semestre 2015): 33–43.

7 George Yúdice, The Expediency of Culture: Uses of Culture in the Global Era (Durham: Duke University Press, 2003), 4.

8 Letter from Arturo Profili to René d’Harnoncourt, São Paulo, 21 May 1953, Arquivo Histórico Wanda Svevo/Bienal de São Paulo (hereafter: AHWS/BSP), 02BSP_00012_DOCUM; letter from Alfred Barr to Arturo Profili, 15 June 1953: AHWS/BSP, 02BSP_00014_DOCUM_p01-02BSP_00014_DOCUM_p04.

9 The biographical information for Arturo Profili is based on a brief CV held in the AHWS/BSP and details found in various manuscripts: Armato, “Una trama escondida,” 35, 41; Margareth dos Santos, “Una cartografía de amistades,” Aletria 2, no. 28 (2018): 207; Thales Caetano Lira, “Wesley Duke-Lee: Um estudo de caso do triunfo de Maximiliano e os trabalhos de Eros em uma análise de sua poética” (Master’s dissertation, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 2015), 23, 27; Marilúcia Botallo, “A mediação cultural e a construção de uma vanguarda institucional: O caso da arte construtiva brasileira” (PhD thesis, Universidade de São Paulo, 2010), 229–231.

10 Jayme Vargas, “Um acervo de histórias,” in Perfis Imaginários, coord. Apartamento 61 (São Paulo: Polén Soft), 21–96; y Roberto Profili, Personal communication, December 2, 2023.

11 Javier Manzanos et al., IV Bienal del Museo de Arte Moderno 1957, São Paulo, Brasil (Alzuza: Fundación Museo Oteiza, 2007).

12 Fernando Oliveira Nunes de Sousa, “Isai Leiner: homem de negócios, homem das artes” (Master’s dissertation, Universidade de São Paulo, 2019), 47, 48, 74.

13 Elizabeth Diggon, “The politics of cultural power: Canadian participation at the Venice and São Paulo biennials, 1951–1958” (Master’s dissertation, Queen’s University, 2012), 59.

14 Aynur Gürlemez Ari, “Exhibition of Turkey at the 1957 São Paulo Biennial,” Sanat Tarihi Dergisi 30, no. 1 (May 2021): 372, 388.

15 Nadine Atallah, “La participation de l’Égypte à la IIème Biennale de São Paulo (1953–1954). Une initiative individuelle, des enjeux nationaux,” Manazi Journal 1 (Autumn 2019): 52, 54, 55, 59, 63, 65, 66.

16 Armato, “Una trama escondida,” 35.

17 IV Bienal do Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (São Paulo: Prefeitura de São Paulo, 1957), 193–205.

18 Manzanos et al., IV Bienal del Museo de Arte Moderno 1957.

19 Museo Luis González Robles-Universidad de Alcalá, España en la Bienal de São Paulo bajo el comisariado de Luis González Robles (Alcalá de Henares: Universidad de Alcalá, 2008); Jorge Luis Marzo, “La Vanguardia del poder. El poder de la Vanguardia. Entrevista a Luis González Robles, principal responsable para arte contemporáneo durante el régimen franquista,” De color 1 (December 1993), 28–36.

20 CV of the Spanish Commissioner of Modern Art for São Paulo, Mr Luis González Robles, 1957: AHWS/BSP, E4-S2.5-1-1243.

21 Luis Gonzáles Robles in Javier Tussel, “Luis González Robles, una época del arte español,” El País, July 10, 2003, unnumbered.

22 Renata Ribeiro dos Santos, “La I Bienal Hispanoamericana y su legado en las representaciones españolas en la Bienal de São Paulo (1953–1957) en el marco de la política cultural franquista,” in Las artes entre la dictadura de Primo de Rivera y el franquismo: modelos de fomento y apreciación (1923–1959), coord. Ignacio Luis Henares Cuéllar & María Dolores Caparrós Masegosa (Granada: Comares, 2018), 163–183.

23 Botallo, “A mediação cultural…,” 229–230.

24 This is a reference to the prize for engraving, which was awarded to Fayga Ostrower.

25 Letter from Luis González Robles to Arturo Profili, Madrid, 28 June 1958. AHWS/BSP, 01-01394 05.

26 Premi assegnati alla XXIX Biennale del 1958, 13 June 1958, Archivio Storico delle Arti Contemporanee, La Biennale di Venezia, Fs_av_85.

27 Chiara di Stefano, “Il ruolo della Biennale di Venezia nella diffusione dell’espressionismo astratto,” Ateneo Veneto 12. 1 (2013): 609: Chiara di Stefano, “Gli Stati Uniti alla Biennale. Le strategie espositive e la diffusione dell’arte americana in Italia intorno al padiglione di Venezia, 1948–1958” (PhD thesis, Ca’Foscari – Università di Verona, 2013), 199–220.

28 di Stefano, “Gli Stati Uniti alla Biennale,” 52–84.

29 Julián Díaz Sánchez, “1960: Arte español en Nueva York. Un modelo institucional de la vanguardia,” Anuario del Departamento de Historia y Teoría del Arte XII (2000): 155–166.

30 Díaz Sánchez, “1960: Arte español en Nueva York. Un modelo institucional de la vanguardia,” 161.

31 The exhibition featured works by Rafael Canogar, Eduardo Chillida, Martin Chirino, Modest Cuixart, Francisco Farreras, Luis Feito, Manuel Millares, Lucio Muñoz, Jorge de Oteiza, Manuel Rivera, Antonio Saura, Pablo Serrano, Antonio Suárez, Antoni Tapiès, Joan Josep Tharrats and Manuel Viola. In agreement with Díaz Sánchez, the generational, stylistic and group unity of the MoMA exhibition resembled the configuration that Robles introduced to the award-winning pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1958. Díaz Sánchez, “1960: Arte español en Nueva York. Un modelo institucional de la vanguardia,” 155.

32 Letter from the Spanish ambassador in Washington to the Foreign Minister, 27 August 1959, located in the Archive of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs: Archivo del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, AMAE, R.11152/22; Díaz Sánchez, “1960: Arte español en Nueva York. Un modelo institucional de la vanguardia,” 156.

33 Letter from Enrique Suárez de Pugna to José Miguel Ruiz Morales, Washington, 11 December 1959: AMAE, R. 11152/22; Díaz Sánchez, “1960: Arte español en Nueva York. Un modelo institucional de la vanguardia,”156–157.

34 Díaz Sánchez, “1960: Arte español en Nueva York. Un modelo institucional de la vanguardia,” 157.

35 Letter from Luis González Robles to Arturo Profili, Madrid, 28 September 1958: AHWS/BSP, 01-01391 05.