Biography:João Candido Portinari

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João Candido Portinari
Born1939 (age 86–87)[1]
Alma materLycée Louis-Le-Grand de Paris (1960)[2][3]
École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (1963)[2][3]
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1966)[2][3]
OccupationTeacher and writer
Known forFounder of Projeto Portinari[2]
Parent(s)
  • Candido Portinari (father)
AwardsPrêmio Jabuti de Literatura (2008)
Prêmio Sérgio Milliet (2008)
Executive Director from
Projeto Portinari[2]
1979 – today
Websiteportinari.org.br

João Candido Portinari is a Brazilian mathematician, engineer, university professor and cultural preservationist. He is the only son of the painter Candido Portinari and the founder and director-general of Projeto Portinari, a major archival, documentary and digital-humanities initiative dedicated to preserving, cataloguing and disseminating the life and work of his father.[4][5]

Through Projeto Portinari, he led a decades-long effort to locate, catalogue and preserve thousands of works, documents, letters, photographs, oral testimonies and archival materials related to Candido Portinari. The project culminated in the publication of Candido Portinari: catálogo raisonné, one of the most extensive artist-documentation initiatives in Latin America.[6][7]

Early life and education

João Candido Portinari is the son of Brazilian painter Candido Portinari and Maria Martinelli Portinari.[4] He was educated in France and the United States. He studied at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris and later graduated in telecommunications engineering from the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications. He completed a doctorate in electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[8]

His scientific and technical training later shaped the methods of Projeto Portinari, which combined archival research, image documentation, database design, oral history and digital access tools.[7]

Academic career

After about ten years abroad, Portinari returned to Brazil in 1966 at the invitation of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). At the university, he helped establish the Department of Mathematics and became a professor and later director of the department.[8]

His work at PUC-Rio placed him at the intersection of mathematics, engineering, computer science and cultural preservation. The institutional environment of the university later provided the setting in which Projeto Portinari was created and developed.[7][5]

Projeto Portinari

In 1979, Portinari founded Projeto Portinari, an archive, research and documentation initiative dedicated to locating, cataloguing, preserving and disseminating the work and documentary legacy of Candido Portinari.[4][5] The project was created at PUC-Rio and developed as an interdisciplinary undertaking combining art history, documentation, conservation, oral history, image reproduction, database development and public access.[7]

The project was conceived in response to the dispersal of Candido Portinari's work and documents among museums, public institutions, private collections and family archives in Brazil and abroad. Its goal was to reconstruct the artist's oeuvre and documentary universe through research, cataloguing and technological tools.[6]

Projeto Portinari has located and documented thousands of works and archival records, including paintings, drawings, prints, murals, letters, photographs, press clippings, publications and oral testimonies. It has also worked to disseminate Candido Portinari's work through exhibitions, educational programs, publications and digital access.[4][7]

Catalogue raisonné

One of Projeto Portinari's principal achievements was the publication, in 2004, of Candido Portinari: catálogo raisonné, a multi-volume catalogue of the artist's complete work. The catalogue was the result of twenty-five years of research and became a major reference for the authentication, study and dissemination of Portinari's oeuvre.[6][5]

The catalogue received the Prêmio Jabuti in 2005 in the category of Architecture and Urbanism, Communication and Arts.[9] Projeto Portinari's own archive also records contemporary coverage of the catalogue's Jabuti recognition.[10]

The catalogue raisonné documented Portinari's artistic production through extensive archival research, photographic records, technical data, provenance information and critical documentation. Projeto Portinari describes the catalogue as part of a broader effort to preserve "mobile patrimony," meaning an artistic legacy dispersed across many institutions and private collections rather than concentrated in a single museum.[6]

Digital preservation and public access

Portinari's work at Projeto Portinari has been cited as an early and significant example of the use of digital technologies in the preservation and dissemination of cultural heritage in Brazil. The project combined art documentation, digital imaging, databases, oral history and interdisciplinary research at a time when digital cultural-heritage methods were still emerging.[7]

The Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities described the project as a major digital humanities and cultural heritage initiative, emphasizing its integration of technology, documentation and public access.[7] Projeto Portinari's database and digital archive have made information about Candido Portinari's works, documents and biography available to researchers, educators and the public.[4]

War and Peace project

Portinari also played a leading role in the modern preservation and dissemination of War and Peace, the monumental panels painted by Candido Portinari and presented by Brazil to the United Nations. Projeto Portinari coordinated research, restoration, exhibition and public communication around the panels when they were temporarily removed from the United Nations for restoration and shown in Brazil and other countries before returning to New York.[11][12]

The project helped renew public attention to the panels as both a major work by Candido Portinari and as a Brazilian contribution to the symbolic and artistic environment of the United Nations.[11][12]

The public dissemination of War and Peace also became part of Portinari's broader educational work. In 2022, he discussed the panels and his father's life in public programming connected to the exhibition and educational project Portinari para todos.[13]

Cultural preservation and public role

As founder and director-general of Projeto Portinari, Portinari became one of the principal public interpreters of his father's legacy. He has given lectures, interviews and public presentations on Candido Portinari's work, the catalogue raisonné, the restoration of War and Peace, and the importance of documentation for cultural memory.[5][8]

He is president of the Associação Cultural Candido Portinari and of Portinari Licenciamentos, organizations connected to the preservation, management and dissemination of the artist's legacy.[5]

Portinari has also been an important public lecturer and interpreter of his father's work. In 2022, he gave the online lecture Portinari para todos: do cafezal à ONU for MIS Experience, tracing Candido Portinari's trajectory from his childhood in Brodowski to the United Nations panels War and Peace.[13] He has also given institutional lectures on Candido Portinari's legacy, including a presentation at Brazil's Federal Court of Accounts.[14]

His public work has also included interviews and oral-history testimony. In an interview with IstoÉ Gente, Portinari discussed the family, personal and artistic dimensions of his father's legacy.[15] In an oral-history interview for the Museu da Pessoa, he described three major strands of Projeto Portinari: the documentary archive, social and educational projects, and work connected to War and Peace.[16]

Portinari has also presented a more personal and family-oriented view of Candido Portinari's life. In 2022, he opened family materials and personal memories to press coverage, emphasizing the domestic and intimate side of the artist alongside the better-known public and monumental works.[17]

Publications

Portinari's work is closely associated with the publications of Projeto Portinari, especially the catalogue raisonné and educational materials on Candido Portinari's life and art.[6][4]

Selected publications and related works include:

  • Candido Portinari: catálogo raisonné, published by Projeto Portinari in 2004.[6]
  • Educational and documentary materials produced by Projeto Portinari on the life, work and archives of Candido Portinari.[4]

Awards and recognition

The broader project has also been recognized as a model for documentation and preservation of an artist's work, especially because of its integration of art history, archival research and technology.[7][5]

See also

  • Candido Portinari
  • Projeto Portinari
  • War and Peace (Portinari)
  • Museu Casa de Portinari
  • Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
  • Digital humanities

References

  1. ↑ "Candido Portinari" (in pt-BR). https://www.ebiografia.com/candido_portinari/. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "João Candido Portinari" (in en). http://www.portinari.org.br/#/pagina/projeto-portinari/equipe/joao-candido-portinari?idioma=en. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Portinari, João Candido (2000). "Projeto Portinari" (in pt-BR). Estud. Av. 14 (38): 369–400. doi:10.1590/S0103-40142000000100021. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 "Projeto Portinari". https://www.portinari.org.br/en. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 "João Cândido Portinari" (in pt). Universidade de São Paulo. 1 July 2013. https://www.iea.usp.br/pessoas/pasta-pessoaj/joao-candido-portinari. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 "The Construction of a Catalogue Raisonné". https://www.portinari.org.br/en/archive/catalogue-raisonne/105364/a-construcao-de-um-catalogo-raisonne. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 "The Portinari Project". University of Maryland. https://mith.umd.edu/research/the-portinari-project/. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Castro, Fábio de (11 March 2010). "João Candido Portinari – Projeto Portinari". https://www.frentefaria.com/artists/candido-portinari. 
  9. ↑ "Premiados por edição: 2005" (in pt). https://www.premiojabuti.com.br/premiados-por-edicao/premiacao/?ano=2005. 
  10. ↑ "Catálogo de Portinari ganha Prêmio Jabuti" (in pt). https://www.portinari.org.br/en/archive/bibliographic/55047/catalogo-de-portinari-ganha-premio-jabuti. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "The War and Peace Project – Latin America Memorial Foundation, São Paulo". https://www.portinari.org.br/en/portinari-project/achievements/103868/projeto-guerra-e-paz-fundacao-memorial-da-america-latina-sao-paulo. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "War and Peace: Candido Portinari, Brazil, 1957". https://www.un.org/en/visitor-centre-new-york/war-and-peace-candido-portinari-brazil-1957. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Aula magna on-line com João Candido | Portinari para todos – do Cafezal à ONU" (in pt). 16 May 2022. https://mis-sp.org.br/evento/aula-magna-on-line-com-joao-candido-portinari-para-todos-do-cafezal-a-onu/. 
  14. ↑ "Professor João Portinari ministra palestra sobre legado do pai Candido Portinari" (in pt). https://portal.tcu.gov.br/imprensa/noticias/professor-joao-portinari-ministra-palestra-sobre-legado-do-pai-candido-portinari. 
  15. ↑ Farah, Fábio. "Entrevista: João Candido Portinari" (in pt). http://www.terra.com.br/istoegente/223/entrevista/. 
  16. ↑ "As três grandes vertentes do Projeto Portinari" (in pt). https://museudapessoa.org/historia-de-vida/as-tres-grandes-vertentes-do-projeto-portinari/. 
  17. ↑ "Filho de Portinari mostra lado pessoal e familiar do pintor; veja fotos" (in pt). Grupo Globo. 3 July 2022. https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/noticia/2022/07/03/filho-de-portinari-mostra-lado-pessoal-e-familiar-do-pintor-veja-fotos.ghtml. 




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