Masterpieces from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art [antikvár]

The invitation sent by the Árts Council of Great Britain to the Museum of Art in Sáo Paulo, Brazil, to exhibit in London a group of paintings from its own Picture Gallery was greatly appreciated and has been hailed as an event of profound significance in the annals of our cultural relations. So great an importance did we attach to it that we decided to enlarge and modify the exhibition which has been shown already in various centres in Europe. (L'Orangerie, Paris; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels; Centraal Museum, Utrecht; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Berne.) Londoners will thus ha ve an opportunity of seeing what the youngest museum in the world has been able to do in the space of seven years and in what way it has enriched the culture of a city which only this year completes its quarter of a century of existence. The Museum was planned and founded in 1947 by Senator Assis Chateaubriand, the owner of a chain of newspapers, radio and television stations, the 'Diarios Associados', his idea being to create a suitable centre where all the problems connected with art could be discussed and examined in a lively and inspiring way. The work was begun on quite a small scale in a building designed as a training school for young teachers. Later, exhibitions were organized from time to time illustrating the history of art by means of photographs and documents and still later, using originál materials, simplified types of exhibition were arranged which could be easily understood by an untrained public. Somé time after this an auditórium was added followed by a room where periodical exhibitions were held with the object of emphasizing that the Museum had a definite interest in contemporary art and especially in work of a vitai quality. Last of all our Picture Gallery was opened for the display of our first donations. The public in Sao Paulo immediately showed their interest in this venture which was backed by powerful propaganda on the part of the 'Diarios Associados'. Considerable funds were collected for the acquisition of works of art, and the impetus was so great that two years later an enlargement of the building had to be undertaken, the originál 1,000 square metres being increased to 4,000. The present need is to erect a new building as the space