by Rosane Muniz Rocha
What is the relationship between theater and Di Cavalcanti, Darcy Penteado, Clóvis Graciano, Lasar Segall, Roberto Burle Marx, Noemia Mourão, Flávio de Carvalho, Heitor dos Prazeres, Oscar Niemeyer? Few people associate these painters, visual artists, designers and architects with the performing arts. Just as few know that they exhibited stage sets, costumes and props at the 4th Bienal de São Paulo in 1957. Their creations were part of the first international exhibition of scenography, costumes, architecture and theatrical technique: the Bienal das Artes Plásticas do Teatro.
The Balé do IV Centenário was organized to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of the city of São Paulo in 1954. As a form of theatrical art that concentrates other forms of expression around dance, the event brought important creations in both music and scenography. The drawings and sketches of costumes and stage sets designed by fourteen artists occupied a special area amongst the Brazilian exhibitions of the first world exhibition dedicated to artistic languages and stage acting techniques.
For those who are new to the fields of art classified as stage design and performance, a world reference is the Prague Quadrennial (PQ), an international exhibition inaugurated in 1967 that, as its name implies, takes place every four years in the capital of what is now the Czech Republic. The history of the PQ’s relationship with the Bienal de São Paulo is still little known, except among the professional circle of those who keep up with the European event.
The “blurred boundaries” between the arts
In the early 1950s, Francisco Matarazzo, then president of the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM SP), the institution in charge of the Bienal at the time, envisioned creating a space that would bring together all artistic expressions in one great event. So much so that in 1951, as part of the 1st Bienal de São Paulo, it introduced sections that went beyond the visual arts, such as the International Architecture Exhibition, the International Film Festival, the Music Composition Competition, the Ceramics Competition and the Poster Competition, always considering professionals, young artists and students.
At the 1st Bienal, the artistic director at the time, Lourival Gomes Machado, who was also in charge of the Film Festival, foresaw the importance that the event would have in bringing cinema into an exhibition: “These are the first signs that the blurred boundaries between the arts, or worse, between the ‘minor’ and ‘major’ arts, do not control the Bienal.”¹
Matarazzo’s relationship with artists of different languages was always intense. His collaboration with visual artists and architects, who also designed sets and costumes, can be traced back to the inauguration of the international event, half of whose jury was made up of artists active in the performing arts. Nevertheless, it was not until 1957, at the 4th Bienal de São Paulo, that theater had its own official section. The impetus came when the Italian artist, set and costume designer Aldo Calvo, who had been working in Brazil for ten years, expressed to the theater theorist, critic and professor Sábato Magaldi, a friend of Matarazzo’s, the idea that the Bienal could win if it included an exhibition of theater art in its program. In full agreement, they soon approached the president of the MAM SP, who understood the importance of the event and decided to “adopt” theater in the show, as long as it did not involve new expenses.²
1st Bienal das Artes Plásticas do Teatro: International Exhibition of Architecture, scenography, costume design and theatre technique
It will be the first time in the world that such an undertaking has been attempted […] This is the 1st Bienal de Artes Plásticas do Teatro […]: set design, costumes, architecture and theater technique: these are the basic points of the event, which, under the heading “theater,” will include all genres – comedy, opera and ballet, allowing all professionals to contribute.³
With less than a year of preparation by the Executive Committee, the show was born, comprising the four areas outlined in the event’s subtitle and organized into four sections: official international exhibitions; special exhibition rooms for “hors-concours” guest designers; a Brazilian exhibition; and an exhibition of amateur Brazilian artists, technicians and movements.
In contrast to the visual arts, creations for the stage make sense when they materialize “live,” during the scene, as part of the narrative. To this day, exhibitions of these elements present challenges in terms of the choice of media and exhibition formats. Even with little time to organize, but with the support of an advisory committee made up of professionals with a great deal of theatrical knowledge, the regulations created for the first event of its kind were quite ambitious. It was recommended to submit original sketches, engravings, paintings and models of sets and costumes; drawings, apparatus, photographs and models, including stage designs, drawings of theatrical machinery, acoustic studies, among others, for the field of theatrical technique; and models, drawings and photographs of theatres, with emphasis on theaters and auditoriums from 1900 to 1957, university theaters and theatrical renovations in the area for the field of theatrical architecture.
In Brazil, the 1950s saw a great change in the techniques and importance given to the scenic elements of visuality, space and sound in theatrical scenes. This was due to a variety of reasons, such as the arrival of immigrants seeking refuge from the wars in European countries, but also the creative force of Brazilians in search of their identity. In this context of the Bienal do Teatro, Aldo Calvo’s importance goes beyond the fact that he was the bearer of the idea: his experience was fundamental in the modernization of the mentality and techniques applied in Brazilian theater. It is possible to observe this professional performance from his beginnings at the Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia (TBC), when it was a space for amateur artists, to his contributions as director of scenography at the Companhia Cinematográfica Vera Cruz, and his work as director of the technical department of the TBC, where he set up workshops in scenography, carpentry and stage technician.
The Bienal do Teatro ran for seven editions (1957-1973) and hundreds of theater artists from Brazil and all continents performed in São Paulo. Among so many performances, Kalma Murtinho is the only costume and set designer who participated in six of them. Her experience began on stage as an actress at Maria Clara Machado’s Teatro Tablado, a director who soon recognized her talent and encouraged her to design and sign the costumes. From there, she was invited by Gianni Ratto to also design for the TBC. Her creations took into account the play as a whole, adapting its spatial and visual narrative to the period of the text, the director’s language and the social moment of the premiere – with costumes, props, characterizations, make-up, hairstyles, hats and, occasionally, sets. Characteristics of a professional who already saw her importance as a participatory contributor among so many others, collaborating in the construction of the scene’s narrative, and not just “at the service” of the director.
Bienal do Teatro: pioneering curatorial practices
In 1977, at the 14th Bienal de São Paulo, the organization of the exhibitions began to be divided into thematic nuclei, with the countries having to follow the proposed themes. Since the 1980s, curators have been responsible for defining the themes and issues that guide the organization of the works for the editions of the visual arts biennial.
The Bienal do Teatro (BIT) was born in 1957, twenty years earlier, not only as the first exhibition of its kind in the world, but also as a place to debate ideas and different conceptions. It thus became a very important exhibition for the theatrical genre, offering a sharing of creative processes beyond the exhibition of a “work of art” that “happened” to be on stage.
We wanted to offer a panoramic view of theatrical art, from antiquity to the present day. In fact, the public will be able to follow the evolution of the history of performing arts through its privileged moments, bringing together the images brought by the different countries.⁴
In addition to the free presentation of each country for the sections that gave the event its title (scenography and costume design; theatrical architecture; and theatrical techniques), the organizers of the BIT proposed that the countries also collaborate with thematic didactic exhibitions, with sets and costumes created from the beginning of the manifestations of these arts until 1957; with Greek theatrical architecture until 1900; and with the history of theatrical techniques until 1918.
The U.S. exhibition – a country that already offered academic courses in stage and costume design – received a gold medal for the cultural interest it raised with questions posed by its theater universities: Where to study? What to learn? How to research? Who are the teachers? Where can students work? Questions we are still asking today.
Among the many historical presentations, we would like to highlight five: Oskar Schlemmer’s Triadic Ballet for the Bauhaus, in the exhibition of the Federal Republic of Germany; the development of modern theater in Switzerland, with several originals by Adolphe Appia; the sets by Félix Labisse and the costumes by Léon Gischia, for which France won two medals; works from the Teatro Alla Scala in Milan and the Venice Biennale, in the exhibition of Italy; and the refinement of the Puppet Theater, presented by Greece.
At the time, there was a strong movement in Brazil related to amateur theater, concerned with teaching and comprehensive training, which eventually included all areas of staging. Curated by Oduvaldo Vianna Filho and Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, a program of lectures was created and held at the Teatro de Arena and Teatro Bela Vista as a parallel event to the Bienal. The content covered various areas of theatrical practice, including the history of theater in general and Brazilian theater in particular; reflections on the author, the actor, the written and performed play; problems of direction and translation; the “isms” in theater; the relationship between the public, critics and theater; children’s theater; and even presentations on stage design by Bassano Vaccarini, costume design by Luciana Petrucelli, and makeup by Victor Merinow.
A powerful but short-lived history
Although the Bienal das Artes Plásticas do Teatro occupied a special place within the Bienal de São Paulo for seven editions, with a series of works that interested specialists and pleased the general public, according to Sábato Magaldi, the event gradually diminished.⁵ Since the 8th Bienal in 1965, the 5th BIT also suffered from the effects of the military coup of the previous year and the political repression in the country. With the success of Czechoslovak set designers, who won gold medals at every edition (František Tröster in 1959, Josef Svoboda in 1961, Jiří Trnka in 1963 and Ladislav Vychodil in 1965), there was a desire to hold an international exhibition of set design in Europe every four years.
The Prague Quadrennial was born in 1967, linked to the Bienal de São Paulo by a contract that ended up providing a more flexible definition than the one originally agreed upon. This definition was based on the rotation of entire exhibitions, every two years, here and there. But the political pressure from the Brazilian government only increased, and as of the 10th Bienal de São Paulo in 1969, known as the “Boycott Bienal,” the event was depleted. It was only natural that all this would affect the Bienal das Artes Plásticas do Teatro, which held its last edition in 1973. Its sister in Prague, however, remained on the artistic map. Today, only the Prague theater exhibition remains active, which has stood the test of time and accumulated influence in the field of performing arts.
Years later, theater, dance and music would be very present as specific languages in editions of the Bienal de São Paulo, especially in 1989 and 1991, when it left the Pavilion and integrated the city in the form of a great festival. Since then, the artistic boundaries have become increasingly porous, and its exhibitions have incorporated the exchange of languages.
But the meetings that take place between artists, technicians and various other professionals when there is a specific event for theatrical arts are unique and unforgettable experiences. Since the creation of the PQ in 1967, Brazil’s work has always been eagerly awaited. Having participated in fourteen of the fifteen editions, the country won the event’s top prize, the Golden Triga, in 1995 and 2011, as well as collecting medals and awards along the way.⁶
Rebuilding bridges
In November 2023, the Prague Quadrennial team visited Brazil and the 35th Bienal de São Paulo to resume the partnership with the institution from which the Czech event originated, which will be sixty years old in 2027,⁷ the year in which the Bienal das Artes Plásticas do Teatro would have celebrated its seventieth anniversary if the contract between the two parties had been in effect.
Between 2012 and 2016, when most of this research was conducted, the history of the Bienal do Teatro was lost in boxes and dust, requiring patience, attention, and wit to piece together the puzzle of the event. Many of the works exhibited were not listed in the catalogs – and others presented, for various reasons, were not included in the publications. With the digitization efforts promoted by the Arquivo Histórico Wanda Svevo, access to the documents has become more agile, facilitating the organization of data and allowing more time for analysis and reflection. There is still much to be written and discovered about this process and its relationship to the history of art in Brazil and its little-known influences around the world.
¹ I Bienal Internacional de São Paulo. São Paulo: Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, 1951, p. 22. (exhibition catalog).
² XX Bienal Internacional de São Paulo. São Paulo: Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, 1989, p. 100. (exhibition catalog).
³ Francisco Matarazzo in O Estado de S. Paulo, 21 mar. 1956, p. 6.
⁴ Aldo Calvo e Sábato Magaldi in IV Bienal de São Paulo. São Paulo: Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, 1957, p. 415. (exhibition catalog).
⁵ Sábato Magaldi, “Suplemento Literário” in O Estado de S. Paulo. , 27 set. 1969, p. 5.
⁶ Learn more about the Brazilian awards on the PQBrasil website: pqbrasil.org/premiacoes.
⁷ See pq.cz/news/pq-team-visits-sao-paulo/. Acessed on jan. 2025.
About the author
Rosane Muniz Rocha has a masters and doctorate in theatre theory and practice from ECA-USP and a degree in journalism. Author of the reportage Vestindo os nus: o figurino em cena (2004), she writes and organizes publications on the spatialities, visualities and sonorities of the stage. Her doctoral research on Brazilian representation at the Prague Quadrennial (PQ) took her to the Arquivo Histórico Wanda Svevo, where she was fascinated by the historical importance of theater in the editions of the Bienal de São Paulo and was invited to speak internationally on the subject. She is the Coordinator of the Costume Subcommittee of the International Organization of Scenographers, Technicians and Theater Architects – OISTAT and President of the Association Grafias da Cena Brasil. She was part of the Brazilian curatorial team for PQ 2011 and PQ 2015 and was an international juror for PQ 2023.