Conflicts and Accommodations in the Organisation of the 6th Bienal de São Paulo: The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the United States Information Agency

Abstract

Based on the analysis of archival materials, this article addresses the United States representation at the 6th Bienal de São Paulo (1961), the last exhibition organised by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It begins by analysing the motivations that led MoMA to accept representing the United States at the 1st Bienal de São Paulo (1951) and to continue to do so until 1961. It discusses how, in the 1960s, the geopolitical context in Latin America led the New York museum to stop organising the exhibitions at the biennials and how the United States Information Agency (USIA) assumed responsibility for the USA exhibitions at the biennials from 1963 to 1967. It also analyses the reception of the exhibitions of Robert Motherwell, Reuben Nakian, and Leonardo Baskin, artists who represented the USA in the Brazilian artistic milieu.

Keywords

• The United States representation at the 6th Bienal de São Paulo
• MoMA at the 6th Bienal de São Paulo
• MoMA and the USIA at Brazilian biennials