Roberto Conduru
| Phone |
214.768.1297 |
Roberto Conduru was born in Brazil. He received a B.A. in architecture and urbanism from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and a Ph.D. in history from Universidade Federal Fluminense in Brazil. Before coming to 正品蓝导航, he was professor of art history and theory at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro and was a visiting professor of art history at the Meadows School in 2014. Conduru has also served as Connecting Art History Scholar at the Getty Research Institute (2012), Florence Gould Foundation Fellow at the Clark Art Institute (2021) and president of the Brazilian Committee of Art History (2007–10).
Conduru’s research addresses modern and contemporary art and architecture in Brazil, with an emphasis on Afro-Brazilian art, as well as Constructivist art and architecture. His interests also encompass global art history and current debates in the arts of Latin America and the trans-Atlantic world.
Conduru’s published works include Pérolas Negras – Outras Voltas (Relicário, 2024), Art in Brazil in the 19th Century (Barléu, 2020; with A. Martin Chillón), Axé Bahia – The Power of Art in an Afro-Brazilian Metropolis (Fowler Museum UCLA, 2018; co-edited with P. Polk, R. Johnson, and S. Gledhill), Architecture Agouda au Bénin et au Togo (Fotorio, 2016; with M. Guran), Carl Einstein e a arte da África (EdUERJ, 2015; co-edited with E. O’Neill), Pérolas Negras – Primeiros Fios (EdUERJ, 2013), Arte Afro-Brasileira (C/Arte, 2007), and the monographs Frida Baranek (Barléu, 2014), Paulo Pasta (Barléu, 2013), Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand, 1920-1950 (Barléu, 2011), Jorge Guinle (Barléu, 2009), Willys Castro (Cosac & Naify, 2005) and Vital Brazil (Cosac & Naify, 2000).
Among the exhibitions Conduru has curated are Recorte (Cutout, Martinho Patrício’s solo exhibition) SESC Pompeia, São Paulo, 2023; Tijolo de Prata (Silver tile, Rommulo Vieira Conceição’s solo exhibition), Aura Galeria, São Paulo, August 31 – October 14, 2023; Quilombo do Rosário, Museu Bispo do Rosário Arte Contemporânea, Rio de Janeiro, 2018; Axé Bahia – The Power of Art in an Afro-Brazilian Metropolis (with P. Polk, R. Johnson, and S. Gledhill), Fowler Museum UCLA, Los Angeles, 2017-18; Black Indices – Performance Video Photography, Caixa Cultural, São Paulo, 2017; Constructive Will in the Fadel Collection (with P. Herkenhoff), Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro, 2013; Incorporations – Afro-Brazilian Contemporary Art, Centrale Electrique, Brussels, 2011-12; Perles de Liberté – Bijoux Afro-Brésiliens (with F. Foulon), Grand Hornu Images, Hornu, 2011-12.
Conduru’s current research considers art, slavery and the fight for freedom in Brazil since the 16th century. Titled “Post-Captivity Art – On spaces of slavery and the fight for freedom in Brazil,” his project addresses contemporary artworks that reflect on those historical processes that have affected sites, things, bodies and minds in Africa, Brazil and Latin America. His work also considers the body and material artifacts in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, in the practices and cultures of slavery in Brazil, and in the processes of resistance and emancipation by Africans and their Afro-Brazilian descendants.
Education
B.A. Architecture and Urbanism, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
M.A. Social History of Culture, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro
Ph.D. History, Universidade Federal Fluminense
Recent Work
Books
Pérolas Negras, Outras Voltas: Experiências artísticas e culturais nos fluxos entre África e Brasil (Belo Horizonte: Relicário, 2024).
Arte Afro-Brasileira (Belo Horizonte: C/Arte, 2007; 2012, reprint; 2021, re-edition).
Arte no Brasil no Século XIX / Art in Brazil in 19th Century, with Alberto Martín Chillón (Rio de Janeiro: Barléu Edições, 2020).
Frida Baranek (Rio de Janeiro: Barléu, 2014).
Pérolas Negras, Primeiros Fios: Experiências artísticas e culturais nos fluxos entre África e Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: EdUERJ, 2013).
Willys de Castro (São Paulo: Cosac & Naify, 2005).
Vital Brazil (São Paulo: Cosac & Naify, 2000).
Edited volumes
Axé Bahia – The Power of Art in an Afro-Brazilian Metropolis, with Patrick A. Polk, Sabrina Gladhill, and Randall Johnson (Los Angeles: Fowler Museum UCLA, 2018).
New Worlds: Frontiers, Inclusion, Utopia, with Claudia Mattos Avolese (São Paulo: CBHA, 2017).
Architecture Agouda au Bénin et au Togo, with Milton Guran (Rio de Janeiro: Fotorio, 2016).
Edited journal issues
“Migrations,” Plastik 15, 2024. (with Iracema Barbosa, and Christophe Viart)
“Religions and (counter)monuments,” Religião e Sociedade, v. 43, n. 3, 2023. (with Edilson Pereira and Thais Waldman)
“Afro-Brazilian Art”, Art in Translation, v. 15, n. 3, 2023 (second part); v. 14, n. 1, 2022 (first part). (with Juliana Ribeiro da Silva Bevilacqua)
“Africa/Brasil,” 3rd Text Africa, v. 13, 2023. (with Mario Pissarra)
“Artes e diáspora africana: conflitos, cânones, recomeços,” MODOS: Revista de História da Arte, n. 6, 2022. (with Arthur Valle)
Journal articles
“Axó of the Spider Woman: Black activism in Goya Lopes’ patterned fabrics,” International Journal of Fashion Studies 10, n. 1, 2023: 157-187.
“Between the social limbo and the art canon: Afro-Brazilian religious artefacts in Rio de Janeiro,” Third Text 37, n. 2, 2023: 146-167.
“Roda and Terreiro: The historiography of Brazil’s visual arts at the crossroads of globalization,” Arts 12, n. 3, 2023: 103.
“Fire and light on monuments: a horizon of burning debates,” Religião e Sociedade 43, n. 3, 2023: 11-34. (with Edilson Pereira, and Thais Waldman)
“The Belated Pioneering Criticism of Afro-Brazilian Art,” Art in Translation 14, n. 1, 2022: 1-7.
“Carl Einstein in Brasilien: Brasilianische Ansätze einer nicht-hegemonialen Kunstgeschichtsschreibung,” JUNI Magazin 59-60, 2022: 261-272.
“Tectonique post-portugaise et/ou mondiale avant la lettre?” Perspective. La Revue de l’INHA 1, 2021: 205-215.
“Jorge dos Anjos and the Colorful Blackness of the Art that Connects Africa and Brazil,” Critical Interventions 9, 2015: 77-90.
“L’histoire de l’art au Brésil, ‘d’ici à là-bas’,” Perspective. La revue de l’INHA 2, 2013: 251-268.
Essays in books
“Place of punishment or monument? Colonial pillories and the memory of slavery in Brazil,” (with Francisco Andrade) in Grappling with Monuments of Oppression: Moving from Analysis to Activism, Christopher C. Fennell, ed. (London: Routledge, 2024), 107-122.
“Sound, Fury, and Freedom: Monuments against Slavery,” in The Image of the Black in Latin American and Caribbean Art. Book 2: The Modern World, David Bindman, Alejandro de La Fuente, Louis Gosset Jr., Sheldon Cheek, eds. (Cambridge: Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, 2024), 334-373.
“Agnaldo Manuel dos Santos, a modern other,” in Agnaldo Manuel dos Santos: The Conquer of Modernity, Juliana Ribeiro da Silva Bevilaqua, ed. (São Paulo: Almeida e Dale Galeria, 2023), 250-263. (first edition: 2021, 190-203)
“Tropical tectonics,” in Brazil's Modern Architecture, Elizabetta Andreoli, Adrian Forty, eds. (London: Phaidon, 2004), 56-105.
Essays in exhibition catalogues
“Healing Spears – Mestre Didi's scepters, sculptures, and monuments,” in Mestre Didi: Spiritual Form, Rodrigo Moura, ed. (New York: El Museo del Barrio, 2025), 31-40.
“In Iron and Color: The Public History of J. Cunha,” in J. Cunha: Corpo Tropical, Renato Menezes, ed. (São Paulo: Pinacoteca de São Paulo, 2024), 145-156.
“Paulo Nazareth: a 'craque' in the middle of the field,” Beyond the Black Atlantic, Serge Harutoonian, Angela Lautenbach, eds. (Hannover: Kunstverein Hannover, 2020), 45-50.
“Vital bait,” in Antonio Dias: Wins and Defeats, Felipe Chaimovich, ed. (São Paulo: Museu de Arte Moderna, 2020), 47-63.
“Albeit late, but on the eve – Rubem Valentim and time,” in Rubem Valentim: Afro-Atlantic Constructions, Adriano Pedrosa, and Fernando Oliva, eds. (São Paulo: MASP, 2018), 53-61.
“Confronting the world with art, beauty, and axé,” in Axé Bahia – The Power of Art in an Afro-Brazilian Metropolis, Patrick A. Polk, Roberto Conduru, Sabrina Gledhill, Randall Johnson, eds. (Los Angeles: Fowler Museum UCLA, 2018), 236-253.
“Ayrson Heráclito,” in Axé Bahia – The Power of Art in an Afro-Brazilian Metropolis, Patrick A. Polk, Roberto Conduru, Sabrina Gledhill, Randall Johnson, eds. (Los Angeles: Fowler Museum UCLA, 2018), 228-235.
“Mário Cravo Neto’s literal and metaphorical Bahia” (with Sabrina Gledhill) in Axé Bahia – The Power of Art in an Afro-Brazilian Metropolis, Patrick A. Polk, Roberto Conduru, Sabrina Gledhill, Randall Johnson, eds. (Los Angeles: Fowler Museum UCLA, 2018), 224-227.
“Caetano Dias,” in Axé Bahia – The Power of Art in an Afro-Brazilian Metropolis, Patrick A. Polk, Roberto Conduru, Sabrina Gledhill, Randall Johnson, eds. (Los Angeles: Fowler Museum UCLA, 2018), 220-223.
“Carnaval à Madureira: modernisme et fête populaire au Brésil,” with Felipe Ferreira, in Samba etc. Carnaval du Brésil, Emilie Botteldoorn and Felipe Ferreira, eds. (Binche: Musée International du Carnaval et du Masque, 2011), 64-67.
“Bridging the Atlantic and other gaps: artistic connections between Brazil and Africa - and beyond,” in Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic, Tanya Barson, Peter Gorschlüter, eds. (Liverpool: Tate Liverpool, 2010), 64-75.
Course list
Graduate Seminars
| Art, History, and Anthropology | |
| Post-captivity Art |
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| Another Minimalism: reduction economics in Brazil’s arts |
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| Between Slavery and the Art Canon |
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| Beyond Borders: Globalization and art historiography |
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| Mixture: Art, culture and society |
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| Color: Art and culture |
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| Survival and Invention: Art and cultural connections between Brazil and Africa |
Undergraduate Courses and Seminars
| Epic of Latin America | |
| Arts of the ‘Sleeping Giant’: Brazilian Art and Architecture |
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| Art in the Fight for Freedom: Afro-Latin American Art |
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| Seminar on Museum Theory – Museum Architecture |
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| Seminar on Contemporary Art – Worldwide Africa |
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| Seminar on Contemporary Art – World Art |
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| Seminar on Modern Art – Global Modernisms |
