Robert Chester Smith in Brazil: a field art history

Abstract

In the first half of the 20th century, there was a convergence of interests for the colonial theme, specifically for Brazilian colonial art and architecture, from different countries such as the United States, Portugal and Brazil. Among these countless subjects, intellectuals and researchers involved, I use the art historian Robert Chester Smith, who moved between the three countries mentioned, as the guiding thread. The purpose of the article is to understand how the project to catalog and inventory Brazilian colonial art and architecture dialogues with the project for national heritage. The article discusses the performance of Robert Chester Smith in several Brazilian cities, during the 1937 and 1946 trips. The trips were a way for the historian to specialize in his field of study through field research, in addition to serving the cultural and political interests of institutions that financed his research. The bibliography produced in the period from 1937, the year of his first visit to Brazil, until 1946, the year of his second visit, will be interpreted by the bias visited cities, length of stay, support institutions, etc. - and from the theoretical and methodological point of view with the authors with whom it dialogued, the themes and files searched and the sources used.