Editorial
Article
Raquel Arnaud: Half a century of coherence
Antonio Gonçalves Filho
1 Mar 2024, 1 pm
Although her involvement with art dates back further, the art dealer Raquel Arnaud considers the starting point of her career to be the opening of her Gabinete de Artes Gráficas (Graphics Art Office) in 1974. That same year, invited by the historic dealer Franco Terranova (1923-2013), she simultaneously took on the role of executive director at the Arte Global gallery. It’s been 50 years of an exceptional journey associated with the greatest names in Brazilian contemporary art, from Amilcar de Castro (1920-2002) to Waltercio Caldas, passing through Sergio Camargo (1930-1990), Willys de Castro (1926-1988), and Tunga (1952-2016), among many other international artists who showcased at her gallery.
Few gallerists worldwide have brought together such an expressive and cohesive team. Just as the Italian-American dealer Leo Castelli (1907-1999) is rightfully recognized as the great supporter of American pop art, Raquel Arnaud is historically identified as the dealer of the key Brazilian artists in the constructive trend. Not to mention that two of the major figures in Venezuelan kinetic art, Cruz-Díez (1923-2019) and Jesús Rafael Soto (1923-2005), were also represented by the gallery owner.
Sicardi, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Raquel Arnaud, Edward Leffingwell, and Eduardo Costa at the installation of the Venezuelan artist in Houston, 2003
Credit: Personal archive.
Notably, both kinetic artists are associated with another woman who revolutionized the European art market by exhibiting works by Max Ernst and Mondrian for the first time in the 1940s at her Parisian gallery, Denise René (1913-2012), with whom she would become friends after a joint exhibition by the duo in the 1980s. Denise became Raquel’s role model, who, as mentioned, had been surrounded by art long before teaming up with her partner Mônica Filgueiras (1943-2010) at the Gabinete de Artes Gráficas, working to bring works on paper by great masters to the market.
“I met Denise in the 1950s and was impressed by the array of artists she represented,” says Raquel, who, like her French friend, adopted a rare stance among dealers in Brazil, concentrating exclusively on a formal segment linked to geometric abstraction. “I was a geometry fanatic from the beginning.” Her initiation into this world can be traced back to her time spent with Lasar Segall (1889-1957) in the painter’s final years. Married to Oscar, one of the artist’s sons, she freely moved through his studio and mingled with intellectuals such as Sérgio Milliet and Dona Jenny, Lasar’s wife and a great translator.
Raquel Arnaud Art Gallery, on 9th of July Avenue - São Paulo, 1980 (adapted by Lina Bo Bardi)
Credit: Personal archive.
Another pivotal experience in shaping the future art dealer was her time at Masp, where, guided by its founder and director, Pietro Maria Bardi, she developed an interest in curation (assisting Lina Bo Bardi in the exhibition “A Mão do Povo Brasileiro”). Subsequently, she ventured into the art market, leaving behind a career in social science. Her entry into Masp was in 1968. Bardi also introduced Raquel in 1970 to the Argentine filmmaker Hector Babenco (1946-2016), the future director of “Pixote,” whom she was married to for 14 years. They had a daughter, Myra, who is now a director at the gallery her mother established in 1980.
Raquel’s journey as a dealer began with Collectio, an auction house where she met Mônica Filgueiras. Through the Gabinete de Artes Gráficas created by the two on Haddock Lobo Street, international artists like the engraver Arthur Luiz Piza (1928-2017) passed by, one of their closest friends, who held groundbreaking exhibitions at their gallery.
Willy de Castro, exhibition Art Office, 1983 Credit: Personal archive
“At that time of the Gabinete and Arte Global, the market was in its early stages, with few galleries active in São Paulo,” recalls Raquel. Collectors of contemporary art were a rarity. “When I started, buyers were only interested in impressionists.” To meet the market demand, she relied on foreign dealer friends, but for Raquel, it was an uncomfortable situation. She aspired to work with young, bold artists like Tunga, for instance.
In the 1980s, with the emergence of a new generation of artists in Brazil and the rise of artistic movements like the Italian transavantgarde and German neo-expressionism, this era of renewal arrived. Alongside it came new collectors willing to invest in the unconventional. A prime example of a collection greatly influenced by Raquel Arnaud’s discerning eye is that of the businessman (and former president of the São Paulo Biennial) João Carlos Figueiredo Ferraz (1952-2021), to cite just one instance. For him, Raquel reserved one of the few “boards” from the final exhibition of Mira Schendel (1919-1988).
Mira Schendel, exhibition Sarrafos, Art Office, 1987 Credit: Personal archive
"Pente", Tunga
“When I organized Tunga’s exhibition, ‘The Jewels of Madame de Sade,’ in 1983, at the Nove de Julho gallery, I was shocked by a buyer who, disregarding the exhibited works, tossed a keychain on the table, sarcastically suggesting that could also be considered art.” Such reactions never discouraged Raquel.
Concurrently with her role as a dealer, she undertook an even greater challenge: to document the history of her contemporary art era at the Institute of Contemporary Art (IAC), which she founded in 1997 as a center for studies and research initially meant to house works and documents of artists she collaborated with, including Waltercio Caldas, the artist who inaugurated the new headquarters of Galeria Raquel Arnaud on Fidalga Street in Vila Madalena. There, a exhibition curated by Jacopo Crivelli Visconti featuring works by the main artists represented by Raquel is currently on display.
Facade of Raquel Arnaud gallery in Vila Madalena
View of the exhibition "Raquel Arnaud 50 years". Photo: Press release
One of them was the Rio de Janeiro sculptor Sergio Camargo (1930-1990), whom she accompanied throughout his life and whose estate is represented by the dealer. Prominent foreign curators took an interest in his work. One of them was the Englishman Guy Brett (1942-2021), one of the most respected names in international art criticism, who helped advance the careers of Hélio Oiticica and Mira Schendel in Europe, organizing exhibitions at the historic Signals gallery in London. A mecca for experimental art in the 1960s, it was there that Brett organized an exhibition of Sergio Camargo, which Raquel visited amid the Vietnam War.
“Sergio Camargo was against the war, and Signals closed its doors during the exhibition’s opening week to protest the conflict,” she recalls, revealing how the commitment of dealers to their artists, at the time, went beyond financial agreements. Times have changed, but the dealer’s greatest legacy is precisely her loyalty to her team of artists and to geometric abstraction over these 50 years, resisting passing trends. Her creed: “I want to be certain that what I’m selling today will retain its value tomorrow,” she sums up.
Translate: Raquel Arnaud, Sergio Camargo, and their work team in Massa, Italy, 1990
Credit: Personal archive.
Antonio Gonçalves Filho is the cultural director of Millan Gallery and the author of the books “A Palavra Náufraga” and “Primeira Individual”, both published by Cosac Naify.
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