The IAC brochure appeared in 1950, before registration was opened for the industrial design course. A number of artists who studied at the Instituto went on to successful careers in the field of Brazilian industrial design, including Alexandre Wollner, Maurício Nogueira Lima, Antônio Maluf, Estella Adonis, and Emilie Chamie.
[For information about the IAC, see in the ICAA digital archive the articles by Ruchti “Instituto de Arte Contemporânea” (doc. no. 1086963); by Lina Bo and Pietro Bardi “Uma escola de desenho industrial no Museu de Arte” (doc. no. 1110325); the anonymous “Finalidades do I.A.C., no Museu de Arte: pretende colocar os modernos métodos de produção a serviço da arte contemporánea” (doc. no. 1087137); and the also anonymous “Instituto de Arte Contemporânea” (doc. no. 1086836)].
Ever since it was founded, in 1947, the MASP’s mission was to educate the general public about modern art. The museum developed a comprehensive program that included educational exhibitions about art history, lectures, courses, and exhibitions of works by contemporary artists such as Le Corbusier, Alexander Calder, Max Bill, and Paul Klee.
The IAC (1951–53) operated out of the MASP in São Paulo. Its systematized approach to the teaching of industrial design in Brazil made it a pioneer in its field. The course was described as a necessary spur to the cultural awareness and development of the city of São Paulo at the peak of its industrial boom. The program outlining the course was possibly written by the director of the MASP, Pietro Maria Bardi and the architect Lina Bo Bardi, the founders of the IAC. Both were members of the faculty at the Instituto and—as boosters of modern taste and art methods that were compatible with the machine age—discussed their ideas in articles that appeared in a widely-read publication they produced, HABITAT magazine.
