This is a letter from Lívio Xavier—who, at the time, was the director of the MAUC (Museu de Arte da Universidade do Ceará)—to the architect Lina Bo Bardi, who was the director of both the MAMB (Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia) and the MAP (Museu de Arte Popular), both of which were in the city of Salvador, in the state of Bahia. Xavier discusses details concerning his involvement in the opening exhibition at the MAP in 1963. He mentions the need for research in Crato, Arcati, and Juazeiro do Norte (all cities in his home state of Ceará). The goal would be to purchase objects for the exhibition and send the most representative pieces of the MAUC collection he directs, thus including modern artists of the Brazilian northeast in the event.

The MAP (Museu de Arte Popular) opened in the city of Salvador, in the state of Bahia, in 1963 with an exhibition called Civilização do Nordeste [see the ICAA digital archive (doc. no. 1110868)] organized by the Italian architect Lina Bo Bardi (née, Achillina Bo, 1914–92) assisted by Lívio Xavier who was, at the time, the director of the MAUC (Museu de Arte da Universidade do Ceará). The architect, editor, and intellectual lived in Salvador from 1959 to 1964, during which time she was the director of both the MAMB and the MAP. Both museums were built in the Solar do Unhão (1963), a seventeenth-century complex that had been restored under her supervision. Driven by her genuine interest in the preservation of the material culture of that part of northeastern Brazil, she created the institutions that seek to preserve the best of the country’s traditional handcrafts. This was her sphere of interest in Bahia and the MAMB, which steadily expanded after the Bahia exhibition at the V Bienal de São Paulo in 1959.   

[Regarding the Civilização do Nordeste exhibition, see in the ICAA digital archive the articles by Abelardo da Hora (untitled) [“No processo da revolução brasileira (…)”] (doc. no. 1111149); and the Italian review by Bruno Zevi “L’arte dei poveri fa paura ai generali” [The art of the poor terrifies the Generals] (doc. no. 1110904)].