Wall text for the exhibition Formas como escultura, held at the Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia (MAMB) in 1960, when Lina Bo Bardi—the possible author of this text—was the director of that institution. The exhibition set out to emphasize the forms of the everyday objects that it displayed. The primary purpose of this text is to announce the plans to open the Museu de Arte Popular and the Escola de Artesanato e Desenho Industrial, annexes of MAMB.

It is highly likely that this wall text was written by Lina Bo Bardi (née Achillina Bo, 1914−92), an architect who served as the director of the Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia (MAMB). In the early fifties, Bo Bardi, who had immigrated to Brazil from Italy after World War II, directed the art magazine Habitat, published by the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP). In 1951, she and her husband Pietro Maria Bardi (1900−99)—curator and director of MASP—began the industrial design department at the MASP Instituto de Arte Contemporânea (IAC), where she taught. Bo Bardi lived in Salvador, Bahia, from 1959 to 1964, the years that she directed MAMB. Her work as the head of programming and education at MASP, and later as the director of MAMB, demonstrate her commitment to art historical exhibitions. She was also responsible for organizing exhibitions with a wide range of contemporary artists from Brazil and elsewhere, and for efforts that placed emphasis on popular culture from northeastern Brazil. Bo Bardi advocated organizing courses in art, music, cinema, and theater, and workshops in industrial design and crafts. Her work energized the art scene from this region of Brazil and allowed local artists to come into contact with major figures in contemporary art. In 1963, the Museu de Arte Popular was opened with works from different regions of the country.

The text “Formas como escultura” outlines the connection between Bo Bardi’s work at MAMB and her earlier work at MASP, especially in terms of the demystification of art and the importance of its role in daily life through both craft and design.

For a related text, see Lina Bo Bardi’s “O Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia” [doc. no. 1110860],

For additional information, see Lina Bo Bardi’s “O Instituto de Arte Contemporânea surge…,” informational pamphlet, c. 1950, and “O Museu de Arte Moderna,” Diário de Notícias, Salvador, October 18, 1959; Glauber Rocha’s “MAMB Não é Museu: é Escola e Movimento. Por uma Arte Que Não Seja Desligada do Homem,” September 21, 1960; and Jacob Ruchti’s “Instituto de Arte Contemporânea,” HABITAT no. 3 (1951).