Council of Regional Arts

Rio de Janeiro is famous for its beaches and night-life, but what about its architecture? Do you know that the city has a district called Flamengo with innumerous art d? buildings? Many buildings were constructed in the late thirties and forties. Flamengo also has some design buildings that follow the eclectic style, similar to Chicago´s Louis Sullivan. Until the 1950s, Flamengo and Catete were the principal residential zones of Rio’s wealthier middle classes and that may be the reason why some of these landmark buildings were constructed here. Some of the art pearls include the famous Biarritz, Flamengo “little Castle” , Tabor Loreto, and and even a Carioca version of New York’s legendary Dakota building Let us now walk through some of these living treasures.

Biarritz Building: Perhaps the most well known building in Flamengo district is definitely the Biarritz Building, located at Praia do Flamengo, 268 (268 Flamengo Beach). Considered an art-deco masterpiece in Rio, the Biarritz has its construction finalized in the beginning of the 40´s, being a copy of an existing building in Paris, on Montaigne Avenue. This art-d? landmark was designed by French architects Auguste Rendu and Henri Paul Pierre Sajous, who designed two other art deco structures in Flamengo: the Tabor Loreto Building (Flamengo beach corner with Paysandu) and the Saint Trinity Church (located at Senador Vergueiro Street ) built in 1938. Some of the reasons for Biarritz’s elegance fame include its rounded balcony with its yellow awning and imposing marble entrance hallway. The Biarritz has 2 apartments per floor and a unique winter garden in Rio designed with a lovely water fountain.

Seabra Building: Designed by Italian architect M?o Vodret, from the Instituto Profissionalizante de Roma, the Seabra Building, a.k.a. the Carioca Dakota, was finalized in mid 30s, the second building at Flamengo Beach. The Seabra Building is considered the most “ghostly” in Brazil, with its eclectic architecture mixing the Moorish, the Gothic and Tuscan elements. Experts identify Seabra building’s lines with Chicago architect Louis Sullivan The building has 4 apartments per floor and a facade that greatly resembles the famous Dakota building, John Lennon’s home in New York. A legend says the Portuguese Commendatore Gerv?o Seabra commissioned Vodret the building after falling in love with the architecture of a castle in Tuscany. The building’s psychedelic entrance was built to haunt: floors with several designs made of Italian marble, different wall paintings finished with whale oil and immense iron luster.

Flamengo “Castle” – Castelinho do Flamengo: Designed in 1916 by Gino Copede, it had its plan signed by Francisco de Santos, since Copede was Italian. Originally, it was the residence of the Portuguese construction mogul Commendatore Joaquim da Silva Cardoso. The building, which sometimes is referred to as the haunted house, shows eclectic art-nouveau architecture mixed with gothic and baroque lines. Nevertheless, the Italian tendency stands out, with a high slate-roof-tiled tower. Abandoned for several years and damaged from a fire, the building was restored by the City Hall and from 1993 on, the Castelinho do Flamengo has held the Cultural Center Oduvaldo Vianna Filho, (doing honor to the Brazilian playwright). Today the Castelinho do Flamengo offers rooms for video exhibitions and theatrical performances, a coffee bar, and a video library with 1800 movies in its catalogue.

Tabor Loreto Building: Taking over the corner of Praia do Flamengo with Rua Paissand?he project of Henri Sajous articulated the two facades of the building through the cylindrical volume of the corner, which was furnished with glass and grated with delicate ornamentations, smoothing the encounter of the two ´portions of the building. The result is an elegant and proportional set of lines.

Paysandu Hotel: This is another epoch building worthwhile paying a visit. The Hotel fa?e and the hotel hanging sign couldn’t represent more the art deco style. The hotel reached its popularity peak in the fifties, when it accommodated Uruguay National Soccer Team during the 1950 World Cup in Rio. Uruguay eventually won the cup adding prestige to the hotel. Botafogo, one of the most traditional soccer teams in Rio, also used to Paysandu Hotel to prepare for its important games. Mythical soccer player Man?arrincha and Nilton Santos were frequent guests of Paysandu Hotel.

These are only some of Flamengo´s architectural gems. Other art buildings in the neighborhood include the Modern Art Museum, Julieta de Serpa teahouse and the outstanding twin buildings Hicat?d Ita?at Senador Euz?o street. Visiting Flamengo, if you are careful enough, you will be able to find a pearl in every walk, apart from its natural beauties. If you love architecture and art, try to settle in this charming neighborhood on your next trip to Rio. But don’t forget to bring your camera along! Original photos of these buildings in Flamengo can be found at Belavista´s Rio Carnival Blog.

Chinese paper-cut, as one of the folk arts in China, has a long history.During the Northern and Southern Dynasty (386 – 581 AD), cutting out intricate pattern.

Barcelona is Spain’s second city and the capital of Catalonia in the north of the country. The city is a vibrant metropolis with a great artistic and architectural heritage. Many of the building are art nouveau with many being designed by the avant-garde and occasionally bizarre architect Gaudi, of whom his professor, at his graduation said “I don’t know weather we are graduating a genius or a fool!”

It is a well laid out city with broad streets and wide walkways. The city transport and tourist infrastructure underwent a massive program of improvement and modernization from 1987 to 1992 in preparation for staging the Olympic games, and today that legacy still ensures good quality, plentiful accommodation and good transport links.

The people here seem to have a passion for all things artistic and as such you will find many street artists and performers and, as well as a profusion of the more usual galleries, concert halls, museums and exhibitions. The nightlife is also good, Barcelona is definitely a party city and the streets are generally safe at night although all the usual precautions are still advisable.

The food is generally of a very high standard especially the tapas, selections of different foods such as olives, spicy chorizo sausage etc which is a good reasonably priced option in the bars. Seafood is especially good, as Barcelona is truly Mediterranean city. When eating in restaurants send back anything you didn’t order, those wonderful looking appetizers are not a gift from the kitchen and you will end up paying for them!

Barcelona has a a temperate climate more than hot enough to fulfill most peoples idea of good holiday weather but without the fierce heat of the south that can render the middle of the day useless for anything other than sitting in a (preferably air-conditioned) hotel room.

Must see highlights:

Museu Picasso: On Carra Montcada the museum houses a large collection of Picasso’s work especially his rose and blue periods and the later cubist variations, and also his engravings pottery sculpture and lithograph he was a very busy man! The museum is housed in two adjoining medieval palaces.

The Rambla: A mile long walkway built over the remains of a dried up riverbed. A bi touristy but usually populated with street performers and artists. A great place for an evening promenade or an afternoon coffee at one of the many outdoor cafes, but in crowded parts keep you hands on your wallet.

Museu de Geologia: The oldest museum in Barcelona and since 1882 has been home to a large and fascinating collection of paleontology and geological exhibits go on the first Sunday of the month when admission is free.

Tibidabo: The summit of the hill Collserola arrive by the tramvia blau to la Atalaya (the old watchtower) for a stunning view of the city, also at the top are a nineteenth centuary amusement park and a mechanical museum.

Catedral: Work originally started on the construction of this beautiful gothic cathedral in 1298 on the site of a 1st centaury chapel the central spire was added as late as 1913.The elaborate and decorative chorus should not be missed.

L’Aquarium de Barcelona: Situated on the waterfront this transparent aquarium is one of the largest (if not the largest) in Europe. It has a large collection of marine life from all over the world and especially the Mediterranean.
You can walk through a transparent tunnel while the sharks move menacingly above your head.

Museu Temple de la Segrada familia: A museum dedicated to Gaudi’s great unfinished masterpiece. A wonderful opportunity to see a great work of art in construction. Take the lift up the tower to get a good overview of the scale of the project.

Barcelona people are generally friendly and helpful to tourists but don’t be surprise if your guide book Spanish are not as popular as you thought here as although the locals speak Spanish the real language is Catalan. Barcelona has all the ingredients for a good holiday. Good food, good weather,
Great culture and wonderful people, A week there will always be a week well spent.

A Chair is a chair. Right? Well not always. A chair a lot more than a chair when is was designed by one of the great artists of modern times. And many of the most popular and inspiring chair designs of the last several decades were designed by accomplished artists who also turned out to have a terrific eye for the form and function of a modern chair.

The unique chair designs of Arne Jacobsen are a perfect example of when furniture serves the double duty as a functional chair and a beautiful and visually stimulating work of art as well. Jacobson is the type of artist that you would call a renaissance man because he was successful in many different genres of art. In fact, before becoming an accomplished furniture designer, Arne Jacobson had great success in architecture. Some of his architectural triumphs include the St. Catherine’s College, the design of Oxford university and at Merton College as well as his work on the Royal Copenhagen Hotel and the National Bank of Denmark in Copenhagen. These are just the most outstanding of many buildings that Jacobsen’s artistic vision influenced.

Even though Arne Jacobsen’s creative work occurred in the mid 20th century, the chair designs he brought to life showed he was ahead of his time in vision for how art could embrace function in the chair designs he innovated. In fact, his futuristic designs for chairs are in step with the visionaries of science fiction and those who visualized the future world. Many futuristic movies have incorporated furniture designs by Jacobson to give the impression of an advanced and sophisticated wold of the future.

Several of Arne Jacobsen’s chair designs have become incorporated into the world of classical art including a chair very simply named The Number 7 chair which was used by the popular artist Lewis Morale as part of a portrait he painted. That influence on other genre’s of art is one reason that many of Jacobsen’s chair designs have reached the status of classics in the design world and have become so well regarded by scholars in the area of furniture design.

When you go to museums such as the Metropolitan Museum in New York, you don’t have to look very far to find examples of outstanding furniture design that is on display from different eras of history around the world. So when you admire classic examples of chair design from Elizabethan periods or early American sections of the museum, its easy to appreciate the genius of a furniture designer like Arne Jacobsen. And its easy to envision that many of his best chair designs will find themselves into museums around the world when the 20th century is one to be honored and documented for the vision of the artists of the time.

The vision of Jacobsen’s chair design reflects a love of the natural elegance of nature. This is a natural reflection of his training as an architect which is one which focuses on making modern buildings reflect the design perfection of the natural world often times. The forms suggested by the most famous of Arne Jacobsen’s designs are very much in that genre, especially his most famous chair designs of The Ant, The Swan and The Egg. In fact, The Egg design is one that has become commonly incorporated into movies that are of a futuristic scene including a funny scene in the move Men in Black as various secret agents try to fill out application forms sitting in an Egg designed chair.

Jacobsen’s versatility of design was not confined just to architecture and furniture. His artistic vision can also be found in designs he developed for cutlery and wallpaper as well in the area of textiles. In fact, it was a Jacobsen design of cutlery that was used in the futuristic movie 2001 A Space Oddity to show how people living in space might eat. This ability to cast a vision of a more sophisticated world is typical of the genius of Arne Jacobsen.

But of the many artistic creations we have as a legacy of the work of Arne Jacobsen, it is probably the Egg Chair that is the one that is the most striking and recognizable to many people. Its a style that fits into so many decors not only in private homes but in restaurants and hotels who are seeking a modern look that is stylish, a bit over the top and yet sophisticated at the same time.
Jacobsen’s designs will certainly continue to be used by artists who are looking to create a futuristic design for other medium including paintings, film, television and movies. In fact, not long ago on the famous television show Saturday Night Live, a skit used futuristic designs of chairs in a humorous piece in which a family in the future shows the post peculiar tastes in food, entertainment and furniture. And while the chairs in this sketch are virtually unusable, the humor is appreciated and it is a reflection on the enjoyment we get from very creative approaches to design such as Arne Jacobsen was known for.

These many references in art and popular culture will make it easy to recognize the Jacobsen influence when you are shopping for chairs for a very specific kind of decor. And while the sleek and rounded designs that made history when Jacobsen innovated them can seem a little cold and exotic, in the right setting with some skilled interior decorating, they can create a look in the living room or den that is at the same time modern and warm all at once. So the Ant, Egg and Swan designs deserve a look whether your decoration challenge is a home setting or one of a restaurant, bar, coffee shop or hotel. Jacobsen’s design concepts fit equally well in all of these settings.

Since Jacobsen innovated the design, there have been many adaptations that use the basic egg approach but to add stylization to it to fit it into a particular decor and to take the design further into even more artistic expression of that same basic concept. It is common in art for one inspiration to foster others and to mold and shape how art evolves. So when you see very modernistic designs of chairs that may very much reflect the basic egg, swan and ant styles that originated with Arne Jacobsen, you can now appreciate how this versatile Renaissance man from Denmark changed the way we all see furniture in many ways right up to modern times.

Some of the fascinating examples that have been displayed on Cemeti Art House are “Art of Bamboo” (2002), “The Past – The Forgotten Time” (2007), “Traditional Art and Culture Program” with several NGOs in the Ford Foundation Network in …