ON CONSTRUCTION

Brazilian Modernist Photography, 1939–1964

Spanning the 1940s to the 1960s, On Construction: Brazilian Modernist Photography, 1939–1964 focuses on one of the most innovative periods in Brazilian modernist photography. Focusing on the works developed around the Foto Cine Clube Bandeirante, the exhibition highlights a movement that remains relatively little known beyond Latin America.

Bringing together works by twenty-seven photographers from diverse backgrounds, the exhibition traces a distinctive visual language shaped by photograms, photomontage, bold framing, experimental composition and unconventional perspectives. The collective experimentation fostered by photography club culture and the highly individual practices that emerged from it. Photographs by figures including German Lorca, Thomaz Farkas, Chico Albuquerque, and Gertrudes Altschul stand out for their distinctive visual languages and for an influence that extended well beyond the context of the club itself.

Presented for the first time in Turkey, On Construction foregrounds the significant place of the Escola Paulista within the history of photography. Rather than approaching the history of modern photography through a single geographical centre, the exhibition opens up space for experimental practices that developed simultaneously across different parts of the world, bringing greater visibility to Brazilian modernism as a significant chapter in twentieth-century photography.

The exhibition is adapted from Construction Deconstruction Reconstruction: Brazilian Modernist Photography, 1939–1964, originally presented at Rencontres d’Arles in 2025.

Curators
Helouise Costa, Marcella Legrand Marer

Artists
Julio Agostinelli (1919–n.d.), Chico Albuquerque (1917–2000), Gertrudes Altschul (1904–1962), João Bizarro da Nave Filho (1908–n.d.), Frederico S. Camargo (1927–1974), André Carneiro (1922–2014), Dulce Carneiro (1929–2018), Raul Chamma (1907–n.d.), Eduardo Enfeldt (1937–2004), Thomaz Farkas (1924–2011), Oswaldo W. Fehr (1911–n.d.), Claudio H. Feliciano (1943–n.d.), Ivo Ferreira da Silva (1911–1986), José Galdão (1902–1990), Gaspar Gasparian (1899–1966), Nelson Kojranski (1927–2015), German Lorca (1922–2021), Ademar Manarini (1920–1989), Roberto Marconato (1932–n.d.), Casimiro Mello (1916–n.d.), Antonio da Silva Victor (n.d.), Alberto Siuffi (1927–n.d.), Eduardo Salvatore (1914–2006), Nair Gisella Sgterenyi (1930–n.d.), Paulo Suzuki Hide (1925–n.d.), Rubens Teixeira Scavone (1925–2007), José Yalenti (1895–1967).