History

06/04/2009

The Foundation

Officially registered in 1978, the Ema Klabin Cultural Foundation is a not-for-profit institution, declared as a federal public resource, aimed at promotion and dissemination of cultural, artistic and scientific activities, and the transformation of Ema Gordon Klabin's residence into a museum open to public visitation.The work of cataloging and researching the collection began in 1997, three years after Ema Klabin's death, and allowed a deeper understanding of the pieces and their history. In spite of remaining closed to public visitation, the Cultural Foundation Ema Gordon Klabin has welcome many visitors who work in the field, as well as researchers from Brazil and abroad.In order to divulge its collection, the Foundation has also lent many pieces to a wide number of exhibitions in Brazil and in Europe.

The House

The headquarters of the Ema Klabin Foundation is located on Portugal Street, in São Paulo. The land of almost 4,000 square meters is part of Jardim Europa district, an upscale subdivision, made by civil engineer/architect Hipólito Pujol Jr., at the end of the 1920's, after the model of the British-style garden-cities in the adjoining district Jardim América, which was developed by the firm Companhia City as designed by the British urbanist Barry Parker. Within its neighborhood there are two other cultural institutions: the Mube - Museum of the Brazilian Sculpture, and the MIS - Museum of Sound and Image.

The house, with floor space of approximately 900 square-meters, was carefully designed and constructed by civil engineer/architect Alfredo Ernesto Becker, in the mid 1950's, to hold the collection that was then being put together by Ema Klabin. It doesn't have any defined style, as it was usual at that time in most residences, blending classical elements like the full arches, present in the outer doors and windows, with modern elements, notably in the finishing materials used. Terri Della Stuffa was in charge of the distribution and adaptation of the pieces in the house surrounding.

Atualizado em 20/04/2009