{"id":4496,"date":"2021-05-06T08:41:40","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T08:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mariabueno.org\/indextemp.php\/?p=4496"},"modified":"2021-05-06T08:43:55","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T08:43:55","slug":"the-missing-mural","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mariabueno.org\/indextemp.php\/the-missing-mural\/","title":{"rendered":"The missing mural"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Lost in S\u00e3o Paulo…<\/h2>\n

In the mid 1980s the British street artist Walter Kershaw, generally acknowledged as ‘the Original Bansky’,\u00a0was commissioned by the Cultura Inglesa to create a series of murals depicting Brazilian life and culture throughout the city of S\u00e3o Paulo, one of which included Maria Esther Bueno.<\/p>\n

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While this allegedly has since disappeared, the main piece, ‘Mural Brasil’ or ‘Life in Brazil’, was recently restored and can be seen on a wall of the headquarters of FAAP, Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation, one of the most prestigious and respected academic institutions in Brazil, on the corner of the streets Armando Alvares Penteado and Avar\u00e9.<\/p>\n

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\u2018Life in Brazil\u2019 \u2013 Higienopolis, S\u00e3o Paulo 1983 was commissioned by FAAP and the \u2018Cultura Inglesa\u2019<\/p><\/div>\n

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Details of this Cultura Inglesa mural, however, were scant until a working blueprint was found among Maria Esther\u2019s papers in London dated 11 December 1985, images of which can be seen at the top of this page.<\/p>\n

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Walter Kershaw<\/p><\/div>\n

There was also a press release, dated 15 October 1985, issued by Cultura Inglesa that stated: \u201cWalter Kershaw, Britain’s leading muralist, is in S\u00e3o Paulo at the invitation of the Cultura Inglesa, which is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year.<\/i><\/p>\n

He has been asked by the Cultura to paint a wall at its new Santo Amaro branch, inaugurated on Thursday 17 October by the President of the Cultura, Dr Jos\u00e9 Pinheiro Neto and the British Consul General David Walker.<\/i><\/p>\n

The mural at the new Santo Amaro branch (Av. Santo Amaro 6781) will feature views of London and S\u00e3o Paulo, and themes illustrating the historical inks between Britain and Brazil.<\/i><\/p>\n

Walter Kershaw, 44, graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Durham in Great Britain. He established himself quickly as a conventional artist, and had paintings purchased by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and by the Gulbenkian Foundation.<\/i><\/p>\n

Subsequently he became interested in mural painting and became the leading British exponent of this new art form. His works have been featured on BBC Television, and he has made films on mural painting for West German television.<\/i><\/p>\n

Walter Kershaw came to S\u00e3o Paulo for the first time in 1983, and supervised a Mall painting on Rua Armando Penteado carried out by students of FAAP. His latest British work was a mural, completed this year, for the Manchester United Football Club.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

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This image shows the mural in situ and is of poor quality.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Associa\u00e7\u00e3o Brasileira de Culturas Inglesas (Culturas Inglesas Brazilian Association), widely known simply as Cultura Inglesa (English Culture) is an English-teaching franchise founded in 1934 and with branches present in the Brazilian cities of S\u00e3o Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bras\u00edlia, Belo Horizonte, Goi\u00e2nia and their surroundings.<\/p>\n

There are also branches in other states of Alagoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Paran\u00e1, Bahia and Esp\u00edrito Santo.<\/p>\n

There, it is possible for its students to take the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations, including the KET (Key English Test), the PET (Preliminary English Test), the FCE (First Certificate in English), the CAE (Certificate in Advanced English) and the CPE (Certificate of Proficiency in English).<\/p>\n

Besides teaching and applying examinations, Cultura Inglesa also promotes cultural events focusing on British culture, such as music festivals and theatre.<\/p>\n

Maria Esther met the artist at the time, and was delighted to receive a water colour painting from him as a memento.<\/p>\n

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This small water colour painting was given to Maria Esther by the artist and is inscribed ‘Santander – Spain, Sept 1985″ and signed – Walter Kershaw.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Fortunately, one of his remaining works is alive and well in S\u00e3o Paulo – Mural Brasil, which has been restored as a contribution by FAAP to the revitalisation of the neighbourhood of Higien\u00f3polis.<\/p>\n

The website states: “After cleaning and waste disposal processes caused by the action of time, operations to protect and saturate colors, and structural repairs, Mural Brasil, located on the wall of FAAP headquarters, on the corner of Armando Alvares Penteado and Avar\u00e9 streets, gained life and projection again, through a lighting project that valued its painting and highlighted its colors.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Mural was made in 1983 by artist Walter Kershaw and a team formed by his wife, Hillary, and 26 FAAP students, for the traveling exhibition Painting the Town.<\/em><\/p>\n

Promoted by the British Council in Latin America, the exhibition presented, in S\u00e3o Paulo, 90 murals at MASP, in addition to the painter’s on-site panel.<\/em><\/p>\n

The panel presents a sequence of images materializing the idea that the artist proposed from Brazil, based on information he already had and on impressions he recorded, from the contact with reality.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read from left to right, it describes landscapes, everyday scenes, allusions to the natural world, traditional references and contemporary repertoire.<\/em><\/p>\n

By choosing images of mountains, Indians, tractors, jaguars, flowers, birds, industries and skyscrapers, the artist evidenced the coexistence in the country of agricultural and industrial realities, rural and urban.<\/em><\/p>\n

For lighting, 16 projectors (Terra Maxi \u2013 Reflector 1447) embedded in the sidewalk were installed, with 70W\/830 metal steam lamps manufactured by Scher\u00e9der.<\/em><\/p>\n

The luminotechnical project was done by engineer Pl\u00ednio Godoy, responsible for the lighting projects of the Municipal Theater, Ipiranga Museum, Court of Justice and Stayed Bridge, among others.<\/em><\/p>\n

The management of the implementation of the lighting system was carried out by Engineer Cl\u00e1udio Hel\u00fa.<\/em><\/p>\n

For the restoration, the company Julio Moraes Conservation and Restoration, specialized in the recovery of mural paintings, was hired. The project has the accompaniment of the students of the Fine Arts course of FAAP.<\/em><\/p>\n

Over seven months of work, cleaning procedures were performed for the removal of vegetation residues, stabilization of the paint, filling of cracks and cracks, and pictorial reintegration tests.<\/em><\/p>\n

The work included photographic documentation and detailed survey of the state and mapping of damage, in addition to the filling of surface defects. Cleaning and staining prepared the surface for final chromatic reintegration.<\/em><\/p>\n

All procedures have been performed according to internationally adopted ethical and technical criteria, such as respect for the original work, reversibility of the processes employed, addition of the minimum possible materials, chemical and physical adequacy of materials – in order to avoid further deterioration – and registration of the intervention, with the guidelines for the future conservation of the restored element.<\/em><\/p>\n

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