Debret's Critical Legacy Reexamined in Contemporary Brazilian Exhibition

The exhibition 'Debret em questão – olhares contemporâneos' at the Museu do Ipiranga in São Paulo recontextualizes the 19th-century French artist Jean-Baptiste Debret through critical contemporary responses. Curated by Jacques Leenhardt and Gabriela Longman, the show juxtaposes 35 of Debret's lithographic plates from his 1834-1839 publication 'Viagem pitoresca e histórica ao Brasil' with new works by 20 contemporary Brazilian artists. Debret arrived in Brazil in 1816 as part of the French Artistic Mission, serving as a court painter while simultaneously documenting the daily life of Rio de Janeiro's population, including enslaved Africans, Indigenous peoples, and Portuguese settlers. The exhibition aims to restore the critical social dimension of his images, which have been widely reproduced in textbooks and popular culture without their original context. New commissions include Rosana Paulino's triptych 'Paraíso Tropical,' which critiques idyllic narratives of Brazil, and Jaime Lauriano's installation 'Brasil através do espelho,' exploring themes of ethnocide and racial democracy. Gê Viana's reinterpretation 'Sentem para jantar' removes white figures from Debret's scene, centering an Afro-Brazilian family. Other participating artists include Dalton Paula, Denilson Baniwa, and Sandra Gamarra. The exhibition is part of the França-Brasil season and follows a smaller version presented at the Maison de l’Amérique Latine in Paris from April to October of this year.