Arte Moderna na arquitetura e no urbanismo recifenses: síntese e paradoxos, no ontem e no hoje uma análise através de algumas das obras de Abelardo da Hora e Francisco Brennand

This text presents a critical reflection on the significance of modern art in the architecture and urbanism of the city of Recife – the main place of experience and academic training of the authors – focusing on the analysis of significant works made by two of the most renowned artists of the State of Pernambuco – Abelardo da Hora and Francisco Brennand. The selection of works aims to make a comparative analysis of the relationship between art and architecture and urbanism in different historical moments: works produced in the context of modernism and also recent works. Abelardo da Hora (1924) is a sculptor, ceramist, designer and painter with studies of Law (Olinda) and Fine Arts (Recife). He is considered one of the most distinguished names of brazilian expressionism. There is a strong bias towards realism and political and social involvements in its extensive production, which stands out internationally, specially through the representation of popular north-eastern brazilian characters. Some examples of his work were comparatively considered in this article: a panel inserted in the hall of a modernist building, the Walfrido Antunes building (1962), projected by architect Waldecy Pinto (1958); panel in the Joaquim Nabuco building; sculptures picturing figures of women in residential and commercial contemporary buildings; and two sculptures located in public squares: The Sertanejo (1962) in the Euclides da Cunha Square, projected by for Burle Max (1934); and The Refugees of Drought in the Dona Lindu Park in Boa Viagem, projected by Oscar Niemeyer, whose first part was inaugurated in 2008. Francisco Brennand (1927) is a ceramist and painter, son of the industrial Ricardo Brennand. He was an informal student of Abelardo da Hora, Álvaro Amorim, Murillo La Greca and other artists from Pernambuco. He took courses of painting and ceramics in Europe, where he was in contact with the work of great masters as Gaudi, Picasso, André Lhote e Fernand Léger. Back to Recife, in parallel with working in his father´s tile factory, Brennand developed a huge number of works that received national and international recognition, mainly for their characteristic abstract beings as symbols of (mostly female) sensuality. We highlight, in this work, only a few of his most relevant productions: the ceramic panel formerly installed in the lounge of the old International Guararapes Airport (inaugurated in 1958) and relocated for the new building inaugurated in 2004; the Battle of Guararapes panel (1961-1962), which covers the side wall of the Bank of Lavoura of Minas Gerais, at the rua das Flores, a pedestrian-only street in the center of Recife. This work aims to analyse the transversal, integrated and at the same time paradoxal relationship between these works of art and architecture and urbanism, in two distinct moments: in the modernist context and in contemporaneity. From the review of the specialized literature, historiographic registers and the testimonies of artists and architects involved with the referred works, it proposes to observe if and how the relationship between architecture and urbanism and the arts in general is being altered.