In September 1963, an exhibition of works of art by Adolph Gottlieb traveled to the VII São Paulo Bienal to represent the United States. The exhibition of forty-five artworks originated at The Walker Art Center and was organized by Director Martin Friedman. The Bienal Internacional de São Paulo was founded a few years prior in 1951 but had quickly reached a level of worldwide prestige as the first art biennial to focus on Modern art.

Gottlieb was awarded the Grande Prêmio prize (Grand-Prix), becoming the first American artist to receive the distinguished award. He and Esther Gottlieb traveled to Brazil to accept the award where they were received with great honor. They stayed in Rio de Janeiro through October 10th and attended events with American Ambassador to Brazil, Lincoln Gordon, and Brazilian curators and artists.

Below, we have selected important photographs, documents, and correspondence from our archives to shed light on Gottlieb's participation in the 1963 São Paulo Bienal. 

The Exhibition:

Reception of the Bienal:

(top left) Congratulatory telegram from Sam Berger to Gottlieb on his Grand Prix award, October 1, 1963. (top right) Congratulatory telegram from Tony Rosenthal to Gottlieb on his Grand Prix award, September 28, 1963. (bottom right) Telegram announcing Gottlieb's prize, September 24, 1963. (bottom right) Congratulatory telegram from Sidney Janis to Gottlieb on his Grand Prix award, October 3, 1963.

Adolph Gottlieb's exhibition at the Bienal and his Grand Prix award were covered widely in Brazilian newspapers. One Brazilian newspaper praised the selection of Gottlieb for the Grande Prêmio as a step forward for culture on "this side of the Atlantic." Diáro de São Paulo reported that Gottlieb considered the prize to be "a further contribution to the movement that has slowly revolutionized the situation of American art."

Esther Gottlieb spoke of her and Adolph's arrival in Brazil in a 1975 interview with Stephen Pearson:
“We fly to Rio and change planes for São Paulo. In Rio, we’re met by a representative from the Embassy, and with due apologies that their Ambassador is in Washington, they present me with a big bouquet of flowers. We walk from one plane to the other while these photographers, all running backward and taking shots of us, were calling out, ‘Señor Adolph, Señor Adolph!’ They kept running back and taking pictures. It was very funny.

Then we changed planes for São Paulo and went through the whole thing all over again. Our friends, the Friedmans, were waiting for us at the gate, and they were all excited! ‘A unanimous decision!’ Adolph said, ‘What are you talking about?’ Martin kept saying, ‘It was unanimous! We got the Grand Prize!’

We got to the hotel—Adolph was calm about it—they were all bowing and scraping, ‘Maestro, Maestro,’ and had banked our room with flowers. It was terrific. It was really great.”

(left) ''Biennial Prize Winner Arrives," Brazil Herald, September 28, 1963. (right) “Gottlieb expresses intimate emotions through colors,” Diáro de São Paulo, 1963.

Yet overall, Gottlieb felt that the Bienal's monumental reception of American Modern art was not covered to the extent it should in the US press.

"You know there was tremendous press coverage down there, but here there was nothing. I went down there, and I had a wonderful time. Then, I read an article on Latin America after I came back. The article's point was that the United States doesn't have any proper news coverage on Latin America, on cultural things. There just isn't any interest in this country in what goes on down there. And I thought this was wrong because all our interest is centered on what goes on in Europe and then I realized why there was no coverage on the Bienal in São Paulo because they don't consider whatever goes on down there newsworthy. Of course, it is a big show, the only big show of its kind we have."
–Adolph Gottlieb in a 1965 interview with Gladys Kashdin

"When we came back to New York as far as publicity was concerned, there was absolutely nothing. There were only four lines in the news section of the Times."
Esther then goes on to describe why this was the impetus for Adolph to leave his gallerist, Sidney Janis.
"He said to Sidney he was disappointed that he hadn’t done anything about his success at São Paulo. The least that could have been done was an ad or something." 
–Esther Gottlieb in a 1975 interview with Stephen Pearson

In December 1963, Gottlieb drafted the below letters to Sidney Janis concerning his choice to show his work at Marlborough Gallery in the future. Gottlieb sent the letter on the right to Janis, but the unsent draft on the left provides a more detailed explanation of Gottlieb's feelings.

Nonetheless, the 1963 São Paulo Bienal greatly furthered the reception of Modern American painting and exhibited an exceptional presentation of Adolph Gottlieb's artwork. Below are some of the paintings exhibited at São Paulo.