It is with great honor that Superfície, on the occasion of the celebration of Franco Terranova’s 100th birthday, presents the exhibition Petite Galerie: Franco Terranova and the Brazilian vanguards. The project arises from the partnership between the gallery and the Acervo Petite Galerie, directed by Paola Terranova, who for years has preserved the memory and spread the legacy left by Franco Terranova. Opening on March 25th, the show brings together around 30 artists who worked around the 60s and 70s, from a perspective that celebrates the exhibitions and names that marked the history of the iconic Petite Galerie. In addition, the text by Frederico Moraes, originally written on the occasion of the Petite Galerie show, a vision of Brazilian art (1996), is published in our catalog with the aim of tracing an overview of Franco’s and PG’s performance in the art scene national.

Inaugurated in 1953, Franco Terranova took over the direction of PG the following year, working until its closure in 1988. He was the essential figure in establishing the gallery as one of the most important art spaces on the national scene, boosting artistic movements and creating a place of encounter and exchange between avant-garde artists who are now among the great names of Brazilian art.

The exhibition features three cores: three narrative strands that accompany Franco’s work in building the Petite Galerie’s innovative program. The first is dedicated to geometric abstraction from the 1960s. The next nucleus is occupied by artists who were part of the Nova Figuração Brasileira, whose political engagement fostered the investigation of new aspects of painting and the object of art, with works of a strong subversive character. to the social context of the time. Finally, the third core concentrates artists from the conceptual art and new media generation, with works on paper, objects and an unprecedented selection of Super8 films.

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