Benches, chairs, sofas, boxes, dressers, desks, wardrobes, hammocks, mats and beds. All of these items are part of our daily lives and reveal how we meet three basic needs:
sitting, storing and sleeping . Focusing on these three human actions and the creative solutions adopted in different eras, the
Ipiranga Museum is holding the exhibition “
Sitting, storing, sleeping: Museu da Casa Brasileira and Museu Paulista in dialogue ” until September 29, in São Paulo, and presents furniture produced between the 16th and 21st centuries. The
164 pieces chosen establish a dialogue between the collections of the
Museu da Casa Brasileira (MCB), with 118 pieces of furniture, and the Museu Paulista, with 46 pieces , exposing the complementarity of the collections of the two state institutions of São Paulo. The items highlight Brazil's cultural and social diversity, addressing indigenous, Portuguese and Afro-Brazilian heritages, as well as those linked to the various immigrations and migrations that have marked our society.
To facilitate dialogue with the public,
the exhibition was organized by types of furniture , allowing a clear comparison between the ways in which furniture was developed, whether by artisanal or industrial methods. The curators are
Maria Aparecida de Menezes Borrego and
Paulo César Garcez Marins , professors at the Museu Paulista, and guest
Giancarlo Latorraca , architect and former technical director of the Museu da Casa Brasileira. Assistants
Rogério Ricciluca Matiello Félix and
Wilton Guerra , who are working together for the first time, also collaborated on the curation.
The
MCB was created in 1970 to record and exhibit different ways of living, becoming the only Brazilian museum specializing in design. The collection includes many items produced from the second half of the 20th century onwards, including pieces signed or produced by industry or the working class. The
Museu Paulista da USP , of which the Museu do Ipiranga is a part, focuses on the study of objects and images that document Brazilian society and has furniture mostly produced between the 17th century and the 1920s. The exhibition is housed in the temporary exhibition hall, a modern, accessible and air-conditioned space measuring 900 m², located on the garden floor, the new floor of the Ipiranga Museum.
Tickets to the exhibition are free. Discover the exhibition modules To sit
It features popular furniture,
chairs and armchairs made by designers from the 20th and 21st centuries and sofa and chair sets from the 18th and 19th centuries . A set of typologies that refer to recurring use over time, including
rocking chairs, children's chairs, sofas, armchairs, armchairs, settees, benches, stools, sewing chairs and swivel office chairs. Various types of
furniture that were used to store clothes, letters, documents and valuables are presented.
Boxes, baskets, safes, dressers, cabinets, wardrobes, counters, wastebaskets and desks reveal, on the one hand, the ways of securing what we want to preserve or transport and, on the other, the protection of the testimonies of our intimacy and the clothes and accessories we use. Highlights include the
paper chest of drawers with its secret locking systems, wardrobes by Alberto Santos Dumont and saddlebags used on mules to transport loads.
Sleep
Furniture is on display that demonstrates
the various ways of lying down and resting that have been practiced in Brazil over the centuries. From
indigenous hammocks to double or single beds , these pieces of furniture have been used in shared spaces as well as in increasingly intimate or individual settings. The various materials used in their manufacture – such as natural fibers, wood, leather, metals for fittings and springs, plastics and fabrics – allow us to trace the path between artisanal production, often made by indigenous people and black people, and mass production, as is the case with the
Patente Beds . Many beds were donated to museum collections because they belonged to members of the elite, such as the imperial family, nobles who received their titles from emperors, such as the
Marquise of Santos ; or political figures during the republican regime. The module also features a set of furniture that belonged to Dona
Violeta Jafet 's bedroom, donated in 2017 to the Museu Paulista. It consists of a bed, bedside tables, dressing table, shoe rack, stool, chairs and circular table, and an upholstered divan. Sleeping, sitting, and storage were thus brought together in the same elite environment, through the furniture made by the Liceu de Artes e Ofícios, which was the most famous furniture manufacturer in the city of São Paulo.
Service - Temporary exhibition “Sitting, storing, sleeping: Museu da Casa Brasileira and Museu Paulista in dialogue”
When: June 11 to September 29, 2024
Where: temporary exhibition room, west wing of the Ipiranga Museum Garden floor - Rua dos Patriotas, 100 - São Paulo (SP)
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday (including holidays), 10am to 5pm (last entry at 4pm) Free entry
More information: https://museudoipiranga.org.br/visite/ 
