Uma semana comum de arte moderna: a experiência de modernidade e os primeiros arranha-céus do Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the intelectual dilemmas felt by Rio de Janeiro’s cultural milieu along the 1920’s and its critical reception of the early skyscrapers. The constrats between such buildings and the palaces erected at the ancient Avenida Central reveal that although a experience of modernity was part of daily life, it remained mainly influenced by 19th-century parisian culture. The reaction against « manhattanism » was in a way its stronger symptom. An indefinition on the form and the « style » of the skyscraper stress the prevalent eclecticism, even in a new version. Finally, the discontents facing such buildings was associated by upper classes and academicism to cultural decadence. We propose an approach on the theme through literary works by Benjamim Costallat, Alvaro Moreyra and Berilo Neves, comparing their points of view with texts and projects published by architects as well as books on the skyscraper by foreing architects like William Starrett and J.L. Kingston.