Mario Schenberg, art critic

A study conducted at the Universidade de São Paulo looks at one of Brazil’s greatest physicist’s work as an art critic.

By Fábio de Castro

Agência FAPESP – Considered one of Brazil’s most important theoretical physicists because of the relevance and pioneering nature of his scientific work, Mario Schenberg (1914-1990) was also a respected art critic.

A study conducted at the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) focused on this second facet of Schenberg’s personality, revealing the conditions that led him to take part in two apparently disparate activities, combining scientific and aesthetic thinking.

The study constituted the master’s thesis of Alecsandra Matias de Oliveira, completed with FAPESP funding and defended in 2003 at the School of Communications and Arts (ECA). The thesis was also the basis for the book Schenberg: Crítica e Criação [Schenberg: Critic and Creation], recently published by Edusp.

A USP history graduate, Oliveira began studying Schenberg during her graduate work as a FAPESP scholar at the ECA-USP Mario Schenberg Center under the supervision of Elza Maria Ajzenberg. After completing her master’s degree, Oliveira earned her doctorate, also as Ajzenberg’s advisee, in Art History at the USP Museum of Contemporary Art, where she currently works in the Special Projects sector.

According to Oliveira, she used an analytical method in the study in addition to comparative work with general historical data and primary and secondary sources.

The study began with Oliveira’s attempt to understand the conditions that led the internationally renowned physicist to become interested in aesthetics to the point that he created a parallel career as an art critic.

“Schenberg’s main characteristic as art critic was that he wasn’t limited by any rules. He was, in essence, intuitive. He had a deep connection with many artists and was deeply interested in the role of the creator. He was a critic unlike others who had set spaces in newspaper columns. He was a catalog critic. Artists sought him out to write about their works,” Oliveira told Agência FAPESP.

Schenberg had a rich and complex personality that was continually evolving. In addition to physics and art criticism, he was active in politics and was elected state congressman twice in São Paulo. A Marxist, he was persecuted for his connections with the Communist Party during the 1964 dictatorship. He also adhered to Zen Buddhist beliefs.

“He was a multifarious citizen with a comprehensive and aggregative way of thinking. The universalism of these many facets is reflected in his art criticism. He made no separation between science, art, politics and religion. In his view, they were all inseparable aspects of life,” Oliveira said.

Oliveira stated that Schenberg’s work as an art critic intensified in 1964, when the military regime forced him to leave the university. “As he was forbidden physical access to the USP campus, he dove into his work as an art critic.”

In the world of physics, Schenberg worked with world-renowned names such as José Leite Lopes, César Lattes and Gleb Wataghin. In the field of art, he had close relationships with Di Cavalcanti, Lasar Segall, Cândido Portinari, Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso. He wrote critical articles on artists such as Alfredo Volpi, Hélio Oiticica and Lígia Clark.

“The art community had a very deep relationship with him. Aside from interacting with some of the period’s most important artists, Schenberg supported the careers of many young artists who are who are admired today. He was invited twice by the artists to be part of the jury for the Bienal de São Paulo,” said Oliveira.

One of the original aspects of Schenberg’s activity as an art critic was his use of photography as a resource in elaborating his work. “He worked almost exclusively with photographs. He would photograph the paintings or sculptures and write his critical texts from the images,” Oliveira said.