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PRESENTATION
Present Rubens Gerchman, deceased in 2008, as a builder and prominent figure in the history of Brazilian art
of the last 50 years might seem an easy task for art critics, historians and cultural professionals.
I allow myself this brief pause to distinguish a more affective preamble of the argumentation which should
route this book. As a father, to their four sons, Michael, Veronica, Stela and I – Clara, Rubens also left many life-
-affirming lessons: the importance of work with passion and responsibility and enjoy every moment with joy.
We feel his absence in the austere and strict father while attentive and affectionate, always willing to teach.
The size of the legacy left was not just an inheritance for their children, especially for a collection to be careful
as the source of inspiration for new generations. Motivated by this understanding, we gathered all his works
within a unique collection and was created the
Instituto Rubens Gerchman
. Preserve his memory and dissemi-
nate his work demanded a deep dive into a material as vast and diverse like the one we found. So many were
the paintings, sculptures, illustrations, postcards, papers, brushes, paints and a plethora of books, photogra-
phs and documents. In short, cataloging material for 66 years of a life well lived.
Without any notion on how to preserve this legacy, the first step had to be quite intuitive. From observation
and common sense, were established priorities and started the preparations for the collection’s organization.
The representational objects and memory of the Rubens-father needed to separate and make room for the
Rubens-artist grandeur.
Along with the personal curiosity to delve into each of these works of art equally came the need to record the
size of the collection in its entirety. And with every new discovery cropped up feelings of many natures. Some-
times anger, fear, tears and laughter. Every day we dealt with the absence and presence of our father and also
with the artist Rubens Gerchman.
We started by the paintings. They were the first works in the collection to be checked one by one and invento-
ried. Once that process started we realized that it would need more than just the committed dedication of his
brood. It took professionals with technical expertise to measure, photograph and make a proper record. When
we call the museologist, was clear to us the restoration emergency and we became aware of the risks that the
works were submitted without due care, exposed to weather and temperature barely adequate.
After, came the objects. Sculptures in wood, metal, acrylic; cigar boxes with mirrors, photographs, glasses. A
mixture of techniques and subject materials as diverse as possible. Altogether this seemed to swallow us at
this first moment. The collection complexity made us see and review the decisions taken daily. We lived in a
constant process of readjustment and realignment of choices, because we treated living objects which suffe-
red – and still suffer – the action of time.
Past that first step of making knowledge of the museum collection, came the iconographic collection. There
were nine months of immersion to know the universe of 20.000 stamps, slides, photographs and negatives
accumulated over five decades. We ended up knowing a lot more organized Rubens than we imagined. He re-
corded in pictures everything that he produced. And in the case of a visual artist, and not a photographer, this
finding surprised us. Within that “help” left by our father, we started the first thematic material separation
and gathered it by subject.