Livraria Buchholz, Lisboa, Portugal
Fotografia sem data. Produzida durante a actividade do Estúdio Mário Novais: 1933-1983. [CFT003 015223.ic] Biblioteca de Arte / Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Portugal in the periphery of Nazi-era provenance research

Inês Fialho Brandão

26/03, das 18h às 20h, sala 103, piso 1, TA

The next lecture of the ‘art in the periphery’ workshop will be delivered by Inês Fialho Brandao, PhD student at Maynooth University – National University of Ireland since 2012.  She currently researches the Portuguese art market during the Second World War, focusing on the interaction between the State and the refugee communities. Inês has studied at the University of Edinburgh and at New York University before embarking on a museum professional career as a curator and as an educator.

Abstract

Between 1940-5, 50,000 – 100,000 refugees entered Portugal  from mainland Europe. Among them were art dealers, collectors and artists. Simultaneously, important collections were formed and/or substantially enriched in Portugal. These events occurred against the backdrop of the Estado Novo’senforcement of an events-based cultural policy promoting a national identity anchored to the country’s Christian roots and deeds of the Discoveries, presented in modernist language and aesthetics.

The interactions between these three spheres – refugees, collectors, state – has not been researched. Equally, the role played by Portuguese authorities and cultural institutions in encouraging or limiting the international circulation of artworks, is still to be determined. We will discuss the reasons behind this lack of scrutiny both by academics and museum professionals The identification and contextualization of biases opens the door for academic attention to Nazi-era provenance research, which the Portuguese government committed to undertake.