This document provides data on the inaugural exhibition at the Museu de Arte Popular built in Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia, 1963. From its beginnings, the institution was conceived by the architect born in Italy and based in Brazil after World War II, Lina Bo Bardi [born Achillina Bo, 1914?92], with the support of the state governor, Lomanto Júnior. As a resident of Salvador from 1959 to 1964, Bo Bardi directed both the Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia (MAMB) and the MAP. Both museums were installed in the Solar do Unhão (1963), a set of 17th century buildings previously restored under her own supervision. As a result of her authentic interest in the preservation of the material culture of Northeastern Brazil, the institution that arose was focused on the best of popular craftwork made in Brazil. These were the parameters of her work, specifically in the sphere of Bahia and the MAMB.
As an institution, MAP had a mission to preserve the material culture of the region of Northeast Brazil. The museum resulted from Lina Bo’s interest in popular Brazilian culture. These were the same principles that had governed her earlier performance as director of the MAMB and her organization of the exhibition Bahia for the 5th São Paulo Biennial (1959). For that biennial, she maintained a close cooperation with Martins Gonçalves, who was director of the Escola de Teatro at the UFBa at the time.
Other texts of interest related to the cultural task undertaken by the architect, Bo Bardi, in Northeast Brazil, offer a broader reading of her accomplishments. For the text that sets forth the implicit themes of the inaugural exhibition at the MAP, see [doc. no. 1110868], as well as “Carta a Lomanto Júnior” [doc. no. 1110865].
