Formation of the artistic collection of the Federal University of Espírito Santo

Abstract

This essay is part of ongoing research at the Center for Research and Documentation of Contemporary History of Brazil at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (CPDOC/FGV). The investigation, from which it derives, aims to know and document a significant amount of works of art, which today are not incorporated into the patrimony system of the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), but which remain under the institution’s safeguard. In this sense, this reasoning is conceived in order to discuss the formation of artistic collections, based on the discussion raised by authors such as Bruno Brulon, Daniel Miller, José Reginaldo Santos Gonçalves, Kryzstof Pomian, Serge Chaumier, Susan Pearce, Susan Stewart, Diana Farjalla C. Lima and Pierre Bourdieu. Through the dialogue with the cited sources, the elaboration of a text that seeks to critically analyze and align with the thinkers the constitution of the Artistic Collection of UFES is envisaged. Thus, at first, notes are brought about the creation of the University and the panorama of the arts in Espírito Santo, as they are directly intertwined. Interviews with former professors and the authors Almerinda Lopes and Magna Rosa, researchers in the field, are also organized. Next, the development of the University’s Artistic Collection is explained, with the proposition of hypotheses in dialogue with the listed researchers, especially regarding the processes of Musealization and Patrimonialization, in addition to Adriana Almeida, Ana Panisset and Letícia Julião, references regarding the study of collections and university art museums in Brazil.