Wall
The Peter Scheier Archives
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
1
Paraná, 1952
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. PRINTED IN 2021.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
2
Woman at the quay, Salvador, c. 1958
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. PRINTED IN 2021.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
3
Moored vessels at the quay, Salvador, c. 1958
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. PRINTED IN 2021.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
4
Street market, Salvador, c. 1958
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. PRINTED IN 2021.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
5
Biscuit seller, Salvador, c. 1958
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. PRINTED IN 2021.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
6/7
Salvador, c. 1958
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. PRINTED IN 2021.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
8
Broom sellers, Salvador, c. 1958
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. PRINTED IN 2021.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
9
Facade of the São Francisco Church, Salvador, c. 1958
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. PRINTED IN 2021.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
Scheier organized the photos of his young children and family trips in albums produced to the same standard as his professional work. In many of these warm and personal albums, Scheier interleaves his photos with texts and images, such as those from modern magazines, above all Life Magazine (USA) and O Cruzeiro. A sense of visual narrative pervades these works.
In 1960, Scheier purchased a VW Kombi van and transformed it into a sort of camper van, using it to take his family on trips around Brazil, when he would take candid photos of his wife and children and photograph the places they visited. The album of the family trip to the Northeast in 1962, for example, tells the story of the family’s photographic trip to the interior of the region. The images show the repeated breakdowns of the Scheier’s van at the roadside in the Northeast and the family interacting with the local population. The result is a visual chronicle about the reality of the places they visited, full of anecdotes of a family trip.
10
Nordeste [Northeast], c. 1962
ALBUM ON PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
11
20 Aufnahmen aus Brasiliens Nord-Osten [20 Photos from Brazil’s Northeast], c. 1962
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
12
Manaus on the Amazon-River, Brazil, c. 1955
ALBUM ON PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.
RUBENS FERNANDES JUNIOR COLLECTION
13
Ultragaz, São Paulo Metropolitan Region, c. 1952
ALBUM ON PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.
PRIVATE COLLECTION
At the beginning of the 1950s, Scheier started working with industrial photography, continuing to work in the area for the following decades. Amongst his customers were companies such as Ultragaz, Klabin, Rhodia, Volkswagen, Labortherapica, Bimetal, Estrela, Nestlé, Johnson & Johnson, Metal Leve, Usafarma, Coldex, Metallurgical Barbará and Aço Villares. His industrial photos were taken with the same technical rigor and techniques used in his architectural photography. In the interior shots, Scheier features workers in their work environments, giving a documentary feeling to his work.
14/15
Rhodia factory, Campinas, São Paulo State, undated
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. PRINTED IN 2021.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
16/17
Klabin Monte Alegre Paper Factory, Telêmaco Borba, Paraná, c. 1952
DIGITAL INKJET PRINT ON COTTON PAPER. PRINTED IN 2021.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
18/19
Volkswagen factory, São Paulo, 1954
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. PRINTED IN 2021.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
20
Newsboy at the Gustavo Capanema Palace, Rio de Janeiro, 1963
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. PRINTED IN 2021.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
21
Newsstand, São Paulo, undated
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. PRINTED IN 2021.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
Showcases
TEXT 1
Peter Scheier started taking amateur photographs when he lived in Hohenau, a German town on the border with Austria, between 1933 and 1937. At the time, he was working as an accountant at an uncle’s sugar factory. However, little is known about his photography during the time he lived in Europe.
When he fled to Brazil from the Nazis in 1937, his first job was as a sausage maker in a multinational meat processing plant in the district of Lapa in São Paulo.
In 1939 he started selling lampshades to eke out his income. He decided to photograph them and produce a catalog to help sales. This was the beginning of his involvement with professional photography. Lorenzetti, a manufacturer of electrical goods for the home, soon commissioned him to produce a similar booklet for its products. That same year, Scheier started working as a typographer at the O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper and soon started taking photographs for the newspaper`s illustrated supplement, the Suplemento em Rotogravura.
A1
“Pacaembu Stadium”. O Estado de S. Paulo. Photographic Supplement, 1st Fortnight, Sept. 1939, pp. 15-16.
BIBLIOTECA MÁRIO DE ANDRADE COLLECTION
A2
Wedding album, c. 1950
ALBUM ON PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.
RUBENS FERNANDES JUNIOR COLLECTION
A3
Business card for the Scheier company with the names of Gertrude and Peter Scheier
INSTITUTO PETER SCHEIER COLLECTION
A4
Wedding album, c. 1950
ALBUM ON PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.
RUBENS FERNANDES JUNIOR COLLECTION
TEXT 2
The Foto Studio Peter Scheier operated in São Paulo from the early 1940s until 1975. It was a family-owned business based in Scheier’s home and was administered by his wife, Gertrude Willheim.
Scheier always worked in many different areas. In the beginning, the studio’s main business was meeting the demand for private portraits and photography for social occasions such as marriages, baptisms, balls, inaugurations and graduation ceremonies. As well as developing and printing Scheier`s own work, the studio also provided laboratory services to other photographers. Scheier soon started taking advertising and architectural photographs. This was in addition to his work for the magazine O Cruzeiro and MASP in the 1940s and 50s. From the 1950s, as well as selling photo reports to international agencies, he focused on industrial photography and on institutional marketing work commissioned by public bodies.
The Foto Studio Peter Scheier had a number of employees, some of whom worked as photographers, especially for social occasions.
At the end of the 1950s, Scheier’s teenage children, Thomas and Bettina, started helping out at the studio. Over the next decade, both of them became professional photographers.
A5
Studio Peter Scheier, São Paulo, c. 1947
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. PRINTED IN 2019.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
A6
Thomas and Bettina Scheier in the lab of the studio Peter Scheier, São Paulo, c. 1947
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. PRINTED IN 2019.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
A7
Album of contact prints of the activities of the studio Peter Scheier, São Paulo, undated
PHOTOGRAPHS ON PAPER, GELATIN SILVER, GLUED ONTO BOND PAPER. VINTAGE PRINT.
INSTITUTO PETER SCHEIER COLLECTION
B1
Peter Scheier. Fotos [Photos], undated
ALBUM ON PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
TEXT 3
Scheier printed all his professional and family photo albums on photographic paper. The layout followed the model adopted by modern illustrated magazines, such as O Cruzeiro, Vu and Life, interspersing sequences of images with larger photos, combining middle distance shots with detailed images, creating a visual narrative that was dynamic and cinematic.
The album on the left is a portfolio that presents a broad overview of the services offered by the Foto Studio Peter Scheier. A look at the photographic services available at the time shows that the market still lacked specialists, which is reflected in the careers of Scheier and other foreign professionals who settled in São Paulo in the first half of the 20th century, such as Werner Haberkorn and Theodor Preising, among others.
B2
Peter Scheier, c. 1951.
Models getting ready for fashion show at MASP, 1951
ALBUM ON PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
B3
Visit by President Getúlio Vargas to the Belfruta farm, Campos do Jordão, São Paulo, 1951
PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
B4
Sommerreise Europa [Summer Holidays Europe], 1959
ALBUM ON PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.
INSTITUTO PETER SCHEIER COLLECTION
B5
Thomas and Bettina Scheier, undated
ALBUM ON PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.
INSTITUTO PETER SCHEIER COLLECTION
B6
Thomaz und Betti Raizen nach Rio de Janeiro, 1951
ALBUM ON PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
B7
Untitled, 1955
ALBUM ON PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION
TEXT 4
Scheier gave the album A Picture Book for Tomy’s Birthday and Start in Photography (1958) to his son Thomas as a birthday present when he turned 16. In it, as well as images of his son with his camera in hand, Peter Scheier included examples of his own work in photojournalism and architectural photography, as well as portraits of public figures. The examples demonstrate technical challenges, such as photographs of white or very reflective surfaces, backlighting, and images of people on the move. They also illustrate Peter Scheier’s thoughts on what makes a good photograph, both technically and expressively.
Photos of Thomas’ mother, Gertrude Willheim and sister, Bettina Scheier, give the feeling of a family chronicle as Thomas Scheier entered into the world of photography. Years later, Thomas became a professional photographer.
B8
A Picture Book for Tomy’s birthday and start in photography, 1958
ALBUM ON PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.
INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION