Ornamentation of Museu Paulista for the First Centennial: construction of national identity in the 1920's

Abstract

In the last decades, several studies have focused Museu Paulista, the collections, the monument building and Afonso de Escragnole Taunay's term, helping for the development of the historical knowledge and the architectural, artistic and cultural patrimony of São Paulo. The museum's ornamentation, organized by Taunay, for the commemorations of the First Centennial of Independence, in 1922, composed essentially of paintings and sculptures, aiming to narrate the colonial period up to the independence, is the focus of studies. The sources allowed us to understand the way the themes were selected, the making and the disposition of the works, in various levels, in the Hall, the Stairway and the Honour Room. The initial years of Taunay's term (1917 - 1945) were propitious for the making of the ornamentation, given the official support and the financial resources obtained, including the ones from the society of São Paulo. The finalization of the ornamentation, nevertheless, took two decades, due to the exiguity of the income, after the Centennial festivities. The ornamentation was granted as concluded by Taunay, with the placing of the last amphora on the Stairway, in 1931, and the publishing of the Guide of the Historical Section of Museu Paulista (Guia da Secção Histórica do Museu Paulista), in 1937. However, the last paintings were made and incorporated in the 1960's.