Abstract
The reception of Brazilian architectural modernism in Colombia has been dismissed and underestimated by national historiography. This article aims to provide a first overview of the rich system of transnational relations between Colombia and Brazil. Moving from the first acknowledgments of Brazilian architectural production in Colombia — in which triangulations with the USA played an important role, not least after the Brazil Builds exhibition catalogue reached an international audience — this article displays a varied system of transference routes that made Brazilian-Cariocan modernism one of the main references for Colombian architects during the 1950s. This text examines recognised seminal events and lesser-known facts, highlighting the existence of a wide system of connections. It analyses the reception of the work of Niemeyer and other architects in Colombian magazines and underlines the movements of Colombian architects toward Brazil. It finally recollects a varied group of projects from the 1950s that evidence the diffusion of Brazilian-Cariocan repertories in Colombia among professionals and students. The article highlights how the reception of Brazilian modernism in Colombia should be read as the result of local cases within the global process of modernism’s ‘tropicalisation’. By doing so, it also discusses the reasons that pushed this process to the margins of the mainstream historiographic narrative.
Highlights
The international reception of Brazilian architectural modernism has attracted a growing interest from scholars, originating a conspicuous number of studies in recent years, mostly focused on the role that national and international architectural journals played in its diffusion in local contexts
Moving from the first acknowledgments of Brazilian architectural production in Colombia — in which triangulations with the USA played an important role, not least after the Brazil Builds exhibition catalogue reached an international audience — this article displays a varied system of transference routes that made the Brazilian-Cariocan modernism one of the main references for Colombian architects during the 1950s
This article aims at providing a first overview on the relationship between the two countries in the architectural field, highlighting the function of magazines in spreading ideals and images from Brazil, and the fundamental role played by Colombian architects educated in that country
Summary
The international reception of Brazilian architectural modernism has attracted a growing interest from scholars, originating a conspicuous number of studies in recent years, mostly focused on the role that national and international architectural journals played in its diffusion in local contexts.
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