Page 19 - Studio International - October 1965

With a sense of fitness not always apparent in South
Bruno Goller, Germany
Two Women 1963 160 x 130 cm.
Magdalena Abakanowicz, Poland
Helena 1965 Tapestry
America. Sao Paulo is the city that holds the most
important international exhibition of the plastic arts on
the western side of the Atlantic. Fitting because.
although Brazil was the earliest European colony in the
two continents. its emergence into the modern tempo
of civilisation has been much later than that of the
United States. And Sao Paulo. now the fastest and
tallest growing city in the world. is the perfect place to
hold the Bienal.
Eleven years ago the city arrived at its fourth centenary
and the famous Brazilian architect. Niemeyer. designed
a pavilion for the special exhibitions in the spacious
park of lpirapuera. In this long rectangular building with
its sculptural interior ramps joining its three floors. the
Bienal. now 1n its eighth occasion. is housed.
Originating spirit. still actively directing operations with
unique warmth and generosity is Francisco Matarazzo
(Sobrinho; the nephew) known to his friends as 'Cicilo'.
This year's event was of a bigness and brightness that
compared favourably with its Mediterranean rival. the
Venice Biennale. Even its climatic condition was com­
parable. although one missed the perfumed breathing
spaces in the Giardini between the samplings of each
national contribution. The grand Sao Bienal prize
foundered on the nine-tenths majority requirement and
in the event it was given equally to Vasarely of France
and Alberto Burri of Italy, a compromise decision that
nevertheless acknowledged the unique attributes of
each. It also indicated the major conflict apparent
throughout the Bienal; the formal and the informal with
a weighting in favour of the latter. even when it
branched into figuration with or without pop variations.
Optical art in its present flood of successes in Britain
and elsewhere relied on Vasarely for its great stimulus
and even in his more than two score works one became
aware of the mechanical variations concentrated on the
agitation of a plane as large as could be thought of by
the juxtaposition of cut-out profiles that matched or con­
flicted with their neighbours. Jean Messagier. against
Vasarely's formalism in the French pavilion. allowed his
paint surfaces to suggest the movements of smoke
clouds in brown obscurities.
Burri in this sub-tropical ambience with palms and
banana trees growing only yards away set a paradoxical
standard in his 'plastics·. Those coloured in vermilion
and black overcame the obvious nature of their material
to create their own identity as of a symbolic blood bath.
Others retaining some of their original transparency
raised the inevitable query: what are we looking at-the
product or the wrapping 7 The smooth reflection and the
tragic charring of Large Black took on a character more
intrinsically beautiful.
Kumi Sugai of Japan taking the best foreign painting
prize was the exposer of a principle for which biennials
are grateful; the painting shall be of a size that will make
its maximum effect on the scale and at the range the
physical conditions require. This the Japanese painter
conceived and executed with an integration that was
impressive both for the operative curves and placing of
his central motive also for the height of his colour key in
ample contrast to the backgrounds. Also working in a
scale that allowed effectiveness to his large cruciform
crypto-images was Teruo Onuma.
Composition of the national pavilions gave a piquant
twist to the whole first floor. Great Britain with tradi­
tional restraint confined her representatives to two:
Victor Pasmore and Patrick Heron. By its economy of
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