Priscila Lena Farias / Anna Calvera Marcos da Costa ... - Blucher

BARBOSA, Ana Mae
Figure 2. Surface Design by Elena Izcue.
in the Galery under his superintendence. In the article written in
1925, he criticizes especially the divergence between the methods
of freedom in expression as advertised by Ramos Martinez
and the resulting visuallity in the works shown which, according
to him, revealed criteria imposed on by the professor.
This is a vulnerable point of the campaign of the Escuelas al Aire
Libre and of the modernist teaching of Art in general. Even the
founders of the Escuelas al Aire Libre and their greatest defenders
naively embraced the modernist discourse on the teaching of art,
maintaining that - though this was not entirely true - there was an
absolute freedom expression, saying that “the students painted
what they wanted as the saw it, following the coloring techniques
which they liked most”. They attempted to conceal the cultural
objectives and the technical procedures which stimulated the
students towards a cultural reading - the core of Best Maugard’s
method used at the Escuelas al Aire Libre and very clearly demonstrated
in his book of 1923, as mentioned above.
Consequently, not very clear statements on the side of the defenders
of the Escuelas, an idealized marketing strategy, disregard by
some artists and destructive and hardly honest campaigns led to
political manipulation of the Escuelas al Aire Libre. In 1932, in a
governmental administrative negociation, the Mexican philanthropical
“bugbear”, as Octavio Paz used to say, the Escuelas al
Aire Libre were transfered from University supervision to the direct
control of the Instituto de Belas Artes [Fine Arts Institute],
and then were subordinated to the same curriculum in force in
other schools, and thus the experimental feature which brought
about their success was lost.
At the meeting of the Counsel which decided to subordinate the Escuelas
to the general rule, the only dissenting voice was that of the
artist and Counselor Rufino Tamayo. Having studied and taught
as professor at the Escuelas al Aire Libre, he showed admirable
fidelity to their principles. More or less at the same time (1919)
Elena Izcue begins her campaign in Peru in favor of design teaching
in international language but revealing indigenous culture .
2. Elena Izcue (1889-1970; 81 years)
A Peruvian who lived in the late nineteenth century Paris was the
designer of the House Worth in France having made several exhibitions
in New York.
His work was based on the Peruvian indigenous iconography, in
the printing of fabrics, tapestry and graphic design packages. In
the design of perfume bottles rested on the current art deco style.
Back in Peru, running from the first world war in Europe, didn’t
find opportunity in the nascent Peruvian industry and dedicated
herself entirely to teaching design. She wrote several textbooks
for primary and secondary schools defending the need to spread
the Peruvian indigenous art and design through teaching.
Her project of a School of Design is very peculiar in respect to
nationalist ideas but at the same time with formal appropriation
of the European codes and visual values besides the exploration
of the newest printing techniques of the time.
At that time national patterns were defended in interior decoration,
architecture and design in Brazil.
3. Theodoro Braga (1872-1954; 82 years)
The most outspoken designer was Theodoro Braga who worked
in Para, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. He directed several
important experiences in art and design teaching, one of them
the Brazilian Art School (1929) in São Paulo and the School of Fine
Arts of São Paulo .
He explain his ideas to an american journalist that interviewed
him for this article below
Figure 3. Exercices for secondary school based on Peruvian indigenous iconography.
Design Frontiers: Territiories, Concepts, Technologies 47