The Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS) collection includes about 35,000 images by the German photographer Peter Scheier (1908-1979), the majority of which are negatives from his time in Brazil. The IMS`s collection also includes a large number of documents such as certificates, contracts, notebooks, visiting cards, rubber stamps, portfolios, family albums, magazines and newspapers which, together with the photographs themselves, reveal the diverse activities of the family`s company Foto Studio Peter Scheier in São Paulo between the 1940s and 1975, when Scheier and his wife, Gertude Willheim, returned to Germany.
The exhibition Arquivo Peter Scheier [The Peter Scheier Archives] is the result of an exhaustive review of the IMS’ collection by the curators and their research into private collections of the photographer`s work and other material and that held by other institutions. The exhibition highlights some notable periods of Scheier’s career, including his time at the magazine O Cruzeiro, his collaboration with the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) in the 1940s and 50s, his photographs of the 1st Bienal de Artes de São Paulo, his collaboration with São Paulo’s modern architects, and industrial photography, as well as his photographic essays on Brasilia and Israel. The exhibition does not lose sight, however, of the massive size of the collection and its openness to other readings and interpretations.
A Jewish tradesman from the small town of Glogow, then in German territory but now in Poland, Peter Scheier fled to Brazil as a refugee in 1937. He built his career as a photographer in São Paulo during a period of significant economic growth in Brazil, building contacts with other immigrants who settled in the country during World War 2 and in the post-war period. His photographs are testaments to some of the most important changes in Brazilian society in the 1940s and 50s. From a formal point of view, many of them give us an idealized image of Brazil’s “golden years”, especially Scheier`s photographs of architecture, industry and the metropolis of São Paulo.
Above all, his works were intended to show the work of professionals, companies and institutions. Scheier was commissioned by government bodies to illustrate institutional marketing materials. On the other hand, his photojournalism for the magazine O Cruzeiro shines a light on the deep contradictions already visible in the path to economic growth, be they his own photospreads showing misery in Brazil or the prejudiced and sensationalist bias of the publication itself. His work was affected by the changes that marked international photojournalism from the 1930s, the formal and modern solutions he adopted, and by his commitment to the needs of business. This exhibition addresses the ambiguities of a society with many faces. It is not intended as a synthesis of Brazil, but rather depicts a contradictory reality that is difficult to decipher.
Heloisa Espada