The Extraordinary International Congress of Art Critics in 1959: Argan, Dorfles, Dorazio and “The New City-Synthesis of the Arts”

During the 5th Bienal de São Paulo in 1959, The Extraordinary International Congress of Art Critics was consecrated to the theme of “Brasília: The New City-Synthesis of the Arts”. It focused on architecture, urbanism and their connections with plastic arts. While it extended the scope of the exhibition’s debate on Abstract expressionism, Tachism and Informal Art, it left an unprecedented record of the discussions. Gomes Machado — director the São Paulo Biennial at that time — in contrast with Mario Pedrosa, criticized the 5th São Paulo Biennial as “a tachist and informal offensive” (“uma ofensiva tachista e informal”). Mário Pedrosa, a Marxist and Trotskyist activist, was mainly interested in “surprise by valuing abstract art and the problems of perception of form” (“surpreendeu ao valorizar a arte abstrata e os problemas de percepção da forma”). While Anglo-Saxon countries emerged as promoters of Abstract expressionism, Italy and Brazil shared a similar approach to art, toward a peculiar interpretation of abstraction. By examining archival material, as well as conference talks made by Mário Pedrosa, Carlo Giulio Argan, Gillo Dorfles and Pietro Dorazio, this article aims to shed new light on cultural exchanges between Italy and Brazil, art criticism congruity and diversity, and the way critics and artists meant abstraction at the end of the fifties.