Lina Bo and Pietro Maria Bardi’s archive transcends the personal aspect. It bears witness to decades of dedication to culture – to architecture, design, and the arts. It reveals in every detail, in addition to the genuine interest in Brazilian culture, the memory of an important phase in the history of the 20th century. The Documental Archive – divided into Fundo Lina Bo Bardi and Fundo P. M. Bardi (Lina Bo Bardi Fund and P. M. Bardi Fund) – consists of drawings, documents, texts, photographs, films, personal notes, notebooks, scale models, newspaper clippings, works of art and Brazilian popular art objects.
LINA BO BARDI FUND
Lina Bo Bardi Fund includes drawings of architectural projects, exhibition design, furniture design, scenography, costumes, and jewelry, as well as illustrations made in childhood and adolescence, a documental archive of 11,500 documents related to her professional activity, and an archive of 15,000 photographs of projects carried out throughout Lina’s life. It is possible to access on this website all the drawings of the architect Lina Bo Bardi. In order to research documents and photographs, it is necessary to schedule a visit to the Institute.
P. M. BARDI FUND
The P. M. Bardi Fund contains correspondence with national and international figures, photographs related to artists and exhibitions, manuscripts, research documents, and rare books. P.M. Bardi’s archive is fragmented between Instituto Bardi, MASP, Archivio Storico Cívico and Biblioteca Trivulziana in Castello Sforzesco, in Milan. To consult the P.M. Bardi Fund it is necessary to schedule a visit to the Institute.
LIBRARY
The archive also holds a small library made up of books from the Bardi couple’s collection on art, architecture, design, as well as contemporary publications on their lives and work. The library also contains books on Politics, Philosophy, History, Literature, Anthropology, and Sociology, among others.
It is possible to consult the archive with a scheduled visit at acervo@institutobardi.org.br. Access to the archive is limited to doctoral researchers, specialized researchers, and museum curators.
For undergraduate and graduate students as well as junior researchers, we recommend reviewing the extensive bibliography that exists on the couple’s life and work.
1
2
3
4
5
THE ARCHIVE’S HISTORY
The first organizing effort was made in 1989 by Lina Bo Bardi’s collaborators Marcelo Ferraz and Marcelo Suzuki, with Lina’s consent and support. This organization was carried out in preparation for the first exhibition of the architect’s work, held for a week at FAU-USP. Shortly after, as Lina Bo Bardi died in 1992, Marcelo Ferraz, André Vainer, and Marcelo Suzuki, along with Isa Grinspum Ferraz started a more systematic organization of the archive with the purpose of publishing a book following Lina’s instructions to seek such publication only after her death. The book served as a guide for the organization of her archive [1].
The first systematization with a museological focus took place in 2007, under the coordination of Anna Carboncini, a former assistant to Bardi and current advisor to the Bardi Institute.
In 2009, with the support of Caixa Econômica Federal (CEF), the Institute cataloged several drawings, systematizing the archive and accommodating the peculiar diversity of Lina’s work within international archival standards. In 2011, with support from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), the Institute made some adaptations to its infrastructure with furniture suitable for the entire archive.