Luanda: Exhibition-Fair Angola 1938
A forgotten or concealed episode of the history of Angola, and a
magnificent photographic album about a colonial exhibition that remained
ignored. The photographer Firmino Marques da Costa, hidden under the
pseudonym C. Duarte; Vasco Vieira da Costa, a customs official and a
great architect before he even was one; A Governor-General who
represented the economic interests of the colonists against the
centralism of Lisbon - Coronel António Lopes Mateus; and the democrat
and autonomist Dr. António Gonçalves Videira, who delivered a speech on
behalf of his “colleagues”.
Two years before the imperial Exhibition of the Portuguese World (“Exposição de Mundo Português”, 1940), a very large Exhibition-Fair was held in Luanda, that did not go down in colonial history. Its was meant to display the economic development of Angola in an “expressive and comprehensive documentary”, rather than exalt the regime’s historicist programme and imperial mystique - the norm with colonial exhibitions, such as the Historical Exhibition of the Occupation (“Exposição Histórica da Ocupação”) held in 1937, in the Eduardo VII Park in Lisbon. The exhibition was meant as a “broad demonstration of the results of our colonizing efforts in Angola” [“our” referring to the colonists] and should “follow an eminently utilitarian and practical orientation (…) providing particular emphasis on matters of economic nature”, wrote Governor-General Colonel António Lopes Mateus (from 1935 to 1939) in the preamble to the ordinance that determined the creation of the event1. It was inaugurated on the occasion of President Carmona’s visit to the Colonies in 1938, but it was clear that welcoming the visit was not the purpose behind the endeavor. The Exhibition-Fair was meant as an acknowledgment, representation or embodiment of the autonomic aspirations in face of Lisbon’s administrative centralism. Such aspirations had repeatedly been manifested and repressed since the early 1930’s.
The commemorative album published by the General Government of Angola, most certainly to be used only in offers and scarcely distributed, is a photographic production of exceptional quality, testimony of the adoption of architectonic and decorative programs that illustrate the official modern monumentality, but also the best of Portuguese Art Déco, as well as a surprising experimental eclecticism. Vasco Vieira da Costa, who would later become Luanda‘s renowned modernist architect (author of the Kinaxixe market - from 1950 to 1952, destroyed in 2008), was its main creator. He was at the time still a customs officer and a designer and is referred to as the head of technical services and “an artist of great merit”. The photographs, attributed to C. Duarte, are probably by Firmino Marques da Costa2.
Literature concerning the great exhibitions of the regime usually goes from Paris, in 1937 (with the Keil do Amaral pavilion) to New York and San Francisco in 1939 (by Jorge Segurado), and then to Belém, in 1940, with the same artist/decorator teams of António Ferro - the artistic and architectural perspective is predominant. Well, Luanda 1938 was a whole different matter altogether. It pertained to a different history than that of the 1934 exhibition in Oporto - the 1st Portuguese Colonial Exhibition, of Henrique Galvão, that extended into the little known Colonial Section of the 1940 Exhibition, under the same director - or the history portrayed in the official Pavilions of the Discoveries, Colonization, and the Portuguese in the World.
Luanda 1938 belongs to a history that was repressed both by the regime and its opposing forces, but also dismissed, so far, by recent historiography on the Portuguese colonists in Africa3. A few scarce references to the exhibition-fair have appeared in studies about colonial architecture, by José Manuel Fernandes and Ana Vaz Milheiro4, and about national Art Déco, by Rui Afonso Santos5. The event, however, has a relevant dimension in different domains, such as the political-economic history of Angola and its relation with the “metropole”, and the history of Portuguese photography and photographic publishing. The exhibition has a clear multidisciplinary interest, and would justify an extensive bilateral congress (Angola-Portugal) to be held.
The commemorative album is an entanglement of surprises and mysteries. It is simultaneously very scarce in information and an extremely valuable testimony. And one of the best - if not the very best - Portuguese “photobooks”. Only by confronting the album with various bibliography from that period can we attempt to perceive the importance of this event. Such is the case of the 'Guia da Exposição-Feira de Angola' (The Angola Exhibition-Fair Guidebook), published by Agência Técnica de Publicidade, Luanda, 1938, 6p., regarded by the exhibition’s administration as the event’s official publication. In addition, issues 9 to 12 (“Exposição-Feira de Angola”, March to December, 1938) of 'Actividade Económica de Angola - Revista de Estudos Económicos - Propaganda e Informação' (Angola Economic Activity - Economic Studies Magazine - Propaganda and Information), published by the Repartição de Estudos Económicos do Governo Geral de Angola (Department of Economic Studies of the Government-General of Angola), 178 p., with additional photographs and advertising, and the 'Boletim Geral das Colónias' (Colonies General Bulletin), v. XV, n. 163 ("Special Issue devoted to the visit of His Excellency the President of the Republic to São Tomé e Príncipe and Angola"), published by Agência Geral das Colónias in 1939, 628 p. (particularly pages 45 to 75), available in digital format at the Memórias de África e do Oriente website. (http://memoria-africa.ua.pt/).
Of all these publications, only 'Actividades Económicas' magazine credits - in the last page of written content - the architects involved in the design of the venue’s structures. They are referred to as “other collaborators” to the Exhibition’s officials. “Fernando Batalha, the author of the project of the main pavilion, who also directed its construction; João Eugénio de Morim, the author of the projects of the Benguela Province oficial pavilions, the ‘Bar-Dancing’, and the monument to the Colonizing Portugal, [who] directed the construction of the said pavilions and monument”. It is known that Vasco Regaleira - Vasco Morais Palmeiro (Regaleira), 1897-1968 - was the author of the Bank of Angola pavilion, that featured sculptures by Manuel de Oliveira (issue n. 9 of magazine 'Arquitectos', published by SNA, 4/6, 1939, p.270; issue n. 41 of magazine 'Arquitectura', 1938, p.18). He would also be responsible for the permanent headquarters of the Bank of Angola, a pastiche of 18th century architecture completed in 1956, and a landmark of the new State’s capital to this day .
Portrait © SGL, Catálogo Geral Oficial
Another singular character in this story is Dr. António Gonçalves Videira, a republican and an autonomist, the brother-in-law of Cunha Leal, and one of the leaders of the discontent colonists in 1928, and of the rebels in 1930. He was an MUD founder and candidate, in 19456. In the final tribute ceremony for the Governor, he spoke “on behalf of his colleagues” (sic).
In the large central map 'Commercial relations of Angola with various countries', including PORTUGAL and São Tomé, U.S., Australia, Netherlands Antilles and Japan, FEA (French Equatorial Africa), Belgian Congo and Union of South Africa, British India, France, Holland, England, Belgium, Romania, Germany, Estonia and Norway. The other charts, Exports, Imports, Balance of Trade and General Commerce / Special Commerce, follow the same criteria, which is understandable from an economic standpoint, but raises issues in a colonial context. This image alone would be sufficient for the album’s circulation to be prohibited, as it happened in other cases, and I believe that the person responsible would be harassed, even if it was a personality close to the regime.
The album
Álbum comemorativo da exposição-feira de Angola. Luanda xcmxxxvii. (commemorative album of the exhibition-fair of Angola). [on the cover: Exposição-Feira de Angola (Exhibition-Fair of Angola), 1938]. Published by the Government-General of Angola (uncredited) 6 and [144] p. il. b/w). Photography (clichés): C. Duarte (Firmino Marques da Costa, n. 1910-?). Offset printing and reproduction by Litografia Nacional do Porto.
The album I found at the used book market on Rua Anchieta, in Lisbon, in 2011, has a library stamp from the Library of the University of Lisbon / College of Law, followed by a different stamp that explains its subsequent itinerary: “Offer from the Library of the Lisbon College of Law ”, clearly showing that the displacement did not take place during the agitation that followed the 25th of April Revolution. But did occur before or after? Inside the album there is still a card that identifies the “OFFER from the Administration of the Angola Exhibition-Fair (1938) LOANDA“ (“OFERTA da Direcção da Exposição-Feira de Angola (1938) LOANDA”). I later retrieved another copy from the window of an antique bookshop. It was also stamped: “University of Lisbon, College of Sciences, Library” (“Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Sciencias, Biblioteca”). I sent it forth to the Art Library of the Gulbenkian Foundation. I had news of yet another copy, in Oporto. It was unstamped, but the possibility of the distribution in 1938/39 having been limited to offers should be considered. Further copies exist, in the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library), the CIDAC - Centro de Informação e Documentação Anti-Colonial (Anti-Colonial Center of Information and Documentation) - and in the Library of the University of Coimbra (the last two are mentioned in Memórias d’África, on February 26, 2013). And yet another in the Lisbon Geographic Society, of which there was no record on the database, when I enquired about it in 2012. This number of copies, at least, are known to exist.
The volume has seven cover pages printed on the front side. The text is on six pages (“Exhibition-Fair of Angola”), and includes the partial transcription of the preamble to the ordinance of October 16, 1937 (n.2 434), that announced the creation of the event by “determination” from the Governor-General. “The General Government has for a long time been planning to hold an exhibition that can constitute an expressive and thorough testimony of the economic development of the entire Colony, the technical and administrative management carried out and the constant social progress that has taken place; in sum: of every aspect of the economic and social life of Angola.” The opportunity to materialize it came along, it is said, with the arrival of electricity to Luanda, and with “a remarkable improvement of the economic situation (that) allows us to face the future of the Colony with renewed optimism”. The event is assigned “a distinctly utilitarian and practical orientation, in an attempt to show Angola as it really is”, with particular relevance to economic affairs.
It is notorious that it is not said that the exhibition was set up to welcome the presidential visit; it is only noted that Carmona inaugurated the event on August 15. On the contrary, it is particularly relevant that “the idea developed” in face of the “successful realization of the provincial Exhibition of Nova Lisboa, held in September 1935”. This exhibition was not devoid of political significance (it was the commemoration of the 30 years of the city founded by Norton de Matos) and its catalogue is one of the elements to be taken into consideration when looking at the 1938 event, as is the catalogue from the Oporto Colonial Exhibition of 1934, with photographs by Alvão, that illustrates a different, opposite model of colonial exhibition, of a “metropolitan” nature, marked by the conjunction of imperialist nationalism and exoticism.
The beginning of the presentation refers that the idea of holding “an exhibition to document (…) the manifestations of social and economic progress” had “for years been flaunted in the press and discussed in official circles”, having been embraced by the governor, and having its materialization benefited from his presence and active support, “always and in every sector”. The work began in late October, under the direction of Dr. Frederico Bagorro Sequeira, head of the Farming and Economic Technical Section, assisted by Augusto de Almeida Campos, head of the Economic Studies Department, and “the direction of technical services was entrusted to customs official Vasco Vieira de Almeida, an artist of great merit.” Vieira de Almeida would become - after getting his degree in architecture in Oporto, 1940-46 - a reference in Angolan modernity, and his intervention in 1938 is one of the great sources of interest in this album. It was an exhibition led by technicians, rather than politicians.
The “project studies, terrain preparation, collection of statistical elements…” took place between October 1937 and April 1938, and the Exhibition construction works and installation were carried out between April and August of 1938. At the inauguration, President Carmona was accompanied by the minister of Colonies, Francisco Vieira Machado and by the Governor-General. The exhibition closed on September 18, having been visited by approximately seventy thousand people. The text also highlights the fireworks show and the “festivities of unusual distinction” at the ‘bar-dancing’, as well as the four conferences that took place in the hall of honor of the main pavilion (published in “Actividade Económica de Angola” (Angola Economic Activity) magazine, with the exception of “The missionary work in Angola” by the bishop of Angola and Congo Moisés Alves de Pinho), and several sporting events. It is said that the exhibition “had relatively large repercussions abroad” (Metropole and neighboring Colonies), to be reinforced by the “present album” and by a thorough documentary produced by the Cinematographic Mission to the Portuguese Colonies.
The illustrations, composed of photographs by C. Duarte, are presented as described below, unnumbered and for the most part uncaptioned, and divided into sections of very uneven length:
-”Views of the inauguration and visitor affluence” (5 photos. The only, until the 3 final images from the ‘bar-dancing’, to feature the visiting public, with the exception of some visitors by a train, in another photo) - “Exterior and interior views of various pavilions and stands” (only 3 photos, with very discrete human presence, namely in the unusual first image, a general view with two black children crossing the main avenue - see photo).
-”Various partial views” “(51 uncaptioned photos: uninhabited or scarcely populated spaces, with some isolated black figures, probably workers).
-”Exterior and interior views of the main pavilion” (24)… followed, without any separation, by other captioned “views”, (48).
-”Exterior and interior views of the ‘bar-dancing’ / Views of the fireworks show” (7 photos, of which two are exterior views, one of a dinner party, two of a dance, and the last two of the fireworks show, as if everything vanished at that point).
There are notable features in these photographs: 1. the near total absence of visitors; 2. the ample, barren and deserted spaces, most certainly photographed at dawn, and before the inauguration - the emphasis is on documenting the general space, constructions and decoration of the venue, as well as the displays and the information presented, in addition to the likely recognition of the photographic quality of the images. 3. the prolonged wandering of the photographer/visitor along the space of the event, before the first pavilions appear, identified in the captions. 4. the absence of historic sceneries evoking the Discoveries or referencing the political regime (that were present in the Navy hall and in the National Union Party hall ), and the exhaustive presence of charts and of numeric and statistical tables on the Colony’s population and economy. 5. the absence of images or references about Portugal or the “metropole” (although there is an exterior view of the of the Casa da Metrópole (House of the Metropole)); 6. the presence of indigenous art (Luanda Province Pavilion, exterior and interior; “Indigenous Village” in the Benguela Pavilion, interior: Bié and Malange Provinces Indigenous Art Pavilions, exteriors), but with a notable absence of any actual physical display of the indigenous people, in the “human zoos” that were common in colonial exhibitions; 7. the importance and quality of photography and graphic design, display stands and furniture.
There is an initial alternation of daytime and nighttime images, for 20 pages, as in an intermittent lighting effect, signaling the event of the arrival of permanent electrical power in Luanda. Also worthy of note is the map on the “Commercial relations of Angola with various countries”, that included Portugal and São Tomé alongside the U.S., Australia, French Africa and Belgian Congo, British India, France, Romania, etc. It is unlikely that such a choice was meaningless, and that it was not the object of reprehension - the issue was taken very seriously in other situations.
There is an obvious choice to represent the Exhibition-Fair through images that were produced in a single occasion, and by a single author, rather than to combine various records produced during the course of the event - which would be justifiable in a commemorative album. The photographer must have worked before or immediately after the inauguration, perhaps when the site was still closed, which matches the urgency of someone who was covering President Carmona’s visit within the context of the Cinematographic Mission. The album’s editor opted for the formal coherence of this work, which was probably left in Luanda in negatives or prints as soon as it was completed, while other negatives were shipped to the Agência Geral do Ultramar (General Overseas Agency), in Lisbon.
The use of the pseudonym C. Duarte matches the circumstances of the commission, that coincides with the photographer’s presence in Luanda as a member of the Cinematographic Mission. In the albums that document the presidential trip, published by the Agência Geral das Colónias (and digitized in Memórias d’África - Universidade de Aveiro ), the photographs are not credited. As we will see, António Sena has identified Firmino Marques da Costa as the author of most of the photographs in those albums, in an exhibition at the Ether gallery, in 1987.
The 1938 album states that the reproduction and offset printing were carried out at the Litografia Nacional do Porto, the same house that had printed the Photographic Album of the 1st Portuguese Colonial Exhibition, that featured 101 photographs by Alvão, the official photographer of Porto’34, presented by the director, Henrique Galvão. Both volumes have the same oblong format, and both are bound and stitched with a cord, without glue, but the second is quite bigger, measuring 24 x 41 cm.
Although written information in the Commemorative Album is scarce, four publications serve as a reference for Luanda 1938, in addition to the event’s Official Guide, and Catalogue: the 1934 album (Oporto), the 1935 exhibition catalogue (Benguela), the 'Actividade Económica de Angola' (Angola Economic Activity) magazine, already mentioned, and the 'Boletim Geral das Colónias' (Colonies General Bulletin) devoted to the presidential trip.
The confrontation of the two albums, from 1934 and 1938, demonstrates the conceptual differences between the two exhibitions. In one, the political intentions of a colonial affirmation in imperial terms and the display of exoticism; In the other, an inventory of the Colony’s own resources, and the affirmation of a local economic development dynamic - the annexed publications empathise that everything was designed and produced in Angola, by its authorities and associations, and by Angolan artists. (The Centro Português de Fotografia published, in 2001, the catalogue “Porta do Meio - Exposição Colonial de 1934 - Fotografias da Casa Alvão” with texts by Maria do Carmo Serém).
The catalogue of the first and only Benguela Provincial Exhibition and Huambo Trade Fair, expressly referred in the ordinance that determined the Exhibition-Fair as a precedent and an example (“the successful realization of the provincial Exhibition of Nova Lisboa, held in September 1935”) was published by the weekly “Voz do Planalto - Órgão de Defesa da Colonização Nacional Angola” (“Voice of the Upland - The Organ for the Defense of National Colonization Angola”) of Nova Lisboa. It is available online in the University of Florida Digital Collections at (UFDC). The publication is composed of 112 pages, including advertising, and measures 21 cm. The event signaled the 23 (!) years of the foundation of the city of Huambo by the “bold vision of the future” of Governor-General Norton de Matos (1912-15), who would later become High Commissioner, between 1921 and 1923. (Of Huambo / Wambu, one of the 14 former Ovimbundo kingdoms). In 1928, the then governor Vicente Ferreira changed the city’s name to Nova Lisboa, and had an official bulletin published, designating the city as the new capital of Angola. The decision, however, never went beyond the paper stage. (Wikipedia. In 1975 the city’s name was changed back to Huambo.
The event took place during a controversial period in the history of Angola, with the successive colonists’ conspiracies in 1930, 1933, and 1934, in protest against the Colonial Act, and with the intent of “releasing the colony from obedience to the metropole”, from which resulted the expulsion of Paiva Couceiro from Portugal, reported in the catalogue with a “telegram”. (see Fernando Tavares Pimenta, 2008, pp. 161-65).It is the demand for “an active Angola in industry, in agriculture, in livestock farming, and in commerce” that sets the tone for the exhibition, along with the “strength and audacity” of the colonists, among displays of disbelief and struggle, driven by the memory of Norton de Matos. (Henrique Galvão had promoted the Colonial Trade Fairs of Luanda and Lourenço Marques in 1932, which were mostly dedicated to the display of products from the “metropole”.)
“Actividade Económica de Angola” (“Angola Economic Activity”) magazine published a special issue (9 to 12, March to December 1938), of excellent graphic design. The issue featured the opening speech of the Exhibition-Fair, delivered by Governor-General Colonel António Lopes Mateus, as well as three of the conferences included in the inauguration programme, namely the “Economic situation of Angola”, by Dr. Moura Carvalho, and “Angola and its destiny”, by Dr. Manuel Múrias. The third conference was on the fishing industry. Particularly relevant was the publishing of the Development Plan for the Colony of Angola (Plano de Fomento da Colónia de Angola), along with other associated documents (explanatory report and basis for application, presented to the Government Council by the Governor-General; the Minutes from the Government Council session where the Report and Basis were discussed, in February and March of 1936; and the Opinion from the Corporative Chamber, along with the decree-law of 16th of August 1938, that created the Development Fund for Angola). Many of the photographs in the Commemorative Album (and no others) were reprinted in the magazine : “Views of the inauguration”; “Various partial views”; “Interior and exterior views of the main pavilion”; “Exterior and interior views of some pavilions and ‘stands’”. A closing page credited the officials of the Exhibition-Fair of Angola, naming the architects and artists involved.
“Angola Economic Activity / Economic Studies Magazine -
Propaganda and Information.” (“Actividade Económica de Angola / Revista
de Estudos Económicos - Propaganda e Informação.”)[Exhibition-Fair
of Angola], Year III, Issues 9 to 12 - March to December 1938, quarterly
publication, published by the General Government of Angola (Governo
Geral de Angola), Department of Economic Studies, 180 pages
+ “engravings”
Another decisive publication was the enormous special issue of the Colonies General Bulletin (Boletim Geral das Colónias) devoted to Carmona’s visit, where we can find journalistic reports on the Exhibition-Fair and various speeches, with highlight to those from the tribute and appreciation ceremony for the Governor-General. It was there that the autonomist and democratic activist colonist Dr. António Gonçalves Videira took the floor “on behalf of his colleagues”. It is a significant testimony of the political context of the event and of life in Angola.
Boletim Geral das Colónias (Colonies General Bulletin) XV - 163 [Special issue devoted to the visit of H.E. the President of the Republic to São Tomé e Príncipe and Angola(II)], ed. Agência Geral das Colónias, 1939, 628 pages (especially pp. 45-75). Available in digital format at Memórias de África - Universidade de Aveiro / Fundação Portugal-Africa.
TO BE CONTINUED
Two years before the imperial Exhibition of the Portuguese World (“Exposição de Mundo Português”, 1940), a very large Exhibition-Fair was held in Luanda, that did not go down in colonial history. Its was meant to display the economic development of Angola in an “expressive and comprehensive documentary”, rather than exalt the regime’s historicist programme and imperial mystique - the norm with colonial exhibitions, such as the Historical Exhibition of the Occupation (“Exposição Histórica da Ocupação”) held in 1937, in the Eduardo VII Park in Lisbon. The exhibition was meant as a “broad demonstration of the results of our colonizing efforts in Angola” [“our” referring to the colonists] and should “follow an eminently utilitarian and practical orientation (…) providing particular emphasis on matters of economic nature”, wrote Governor-General Colonel António Lopes Mateus (from 1935 to 1939) in the preamble to the ordinance that determined the creation of the event1. It was inaugurated on the occasion of President Carmona’s visit to the Colonies in 1938, but it was clear that welcoming the visit was not the purpose behind the endeavor. The Exhibition-Fair was meant as an acknowledgment, representation or embodiment of the autonomic aspirations in face of Lisbon’s administrative centralism. Such aspirations had repeatedly been manifested and repressed since the early 1930’s.
The commemorative album published by the General Government of Angola, most certainly to be used only in offers and scarcely distributed, is a photographic production of exceptional quality, testimony of the adoption of architectonic and decorative programs that illustrate the official modern monumentality, but also the best of Portuguese Art Déco, as well as a surprising experimental eclecticism. Vasco Vieira da Costa, who would later become Luanda‘s renowned modernist architect (author of the Kinaxixe market - from 1950 to 1952, destroyed in 2008), was its main creator. He was at the time still a customs officer and a designer and is referred to as the head of technical services and “an artist of great merit”. The photographs, attributed to C. Duarte, are probably by Firmino Marques da Costa2.
Literature concerning the great exhibitions of the regime usually goes from Paris, in 1937 (with the Keil do Amaral pavilion) to New York and San Francisco in 1939 (by Jorge Segurado), and then to Belém, in 1940, with the same artist/decorator teams of António Ferro - the artistic and architectural perspective is predominant. Well, Luanda 1938 was a whole different matter altogether. It pertained to a different history than that of the 1934 exhibition in Oporto - the 1st Portuguese Colonial Exhibition, of Henrique Galvão, that extended into the little known Colonial Section of the 1940 Exhibition, under the same director - or the history portrayed in the official Pavilions of the Discoveries, Colonization, and the Portuguese in the World.
Luanda 1938 belongs to a history that was repressed both by the regime and its opposing forces, but also dismissed, so far, by recent historiography on the Portuguese colonists in Africa3. A few scarce references to the exhibition-fair have appeared in studies about colonial architecture, by José Manuel Fernandes and Ana Vaz Milheiro4, and about national Art Déco, by Rui Afonso Santos5. The event, however, has a relevant dimension in different domains, such as the political-economic history of Angola and its relation with the “metropole”, and the history of Portuguese photography and photographic publishing. The exhibition has a clear multidisciplinary interest, and would justify an extensive bilateral congress (Angola-Portugal) to be held.
Pavilion of Honor, project by Fernando Batalha
below, the interior of the Pavilion of Honor (architect Fernando Batalha)
The commemorative album is an entanglement of surprises and mysteries. It is simultaneously very scarce in information and an extremely valuable testimony. And one of the best - if not the very best - Portuguese “photobooks”. Only by confronting the album with various bibliography from that period can we attempt to perceive the importance of this event. Such is the case of the 'Guia da Exposição-Feira de Angola' (The Angola Exhibition-Fair Guidebook), published by Agência Técnica de Publicidade, Luanda, 1938, 6p., regarded by the exhibition’s administration as the event’s official publication. In addition, issues 9 to 12 (“Exposição-Feira de Angola”, March to December, 1938) of 'Actividade Económica de Angola - Revista de Estudos Económicos - Propaganda e Informação' (Angola Economic Activity - Economic Studies Magazine - Propaganda and Information), published by the Repartição de Estudos Económicos do Governo Geral de Angola (Department of Economic Studies of the Government-General of Angola), 178 p., with additional photographs and advertising, and the 'Boletim Geral das Colónias' (Colonies General Bulletin), v. XV, n. 163 ("Special Issue devoted to the visit of His Excellency the President of the Republic to São Tomé e Príncipe and Angola"), published by Agência Geral das Colónias in 1939, 628 p. (particularly pages 45 to 75), available in digital format at the Memórias de África e do Oriente website. (http://memoria-africa.ua.pt/).
The last photo of the Commemorative Album
Of all these publications, only 'Actividades Económicas' magazine credits - in the last page of written content - the architects involved in the design of the venue’s structures. They are referred to as “other collaborators” to the Exhibition’s officials. “Fernando Batalha, the author of the project of the main pavilion, who also directed its construction; João Eugénio de Morim, the author of the projects of the Benguela Province oficial pavilions, the ‘Bar-Dancing’, and the monument to the Colonizing Portugal, [who] directed the construction of the said pavilions and monument”. It is known that Vasco Regaleira - Vasco Morais Palmeiro (Regaleira), 1897-1968 - was the author of the Bank of Angola pavilion, that featured sculptures by Manuel de Oliveira (issue n. 9 of magazine 'Arquitectos', published by SNA, 4/6, 1939, p.270; issue n. 41 of magazine 'Arquitectura', 1938, p.18). He would also be responsible for the permanent headquarters of the Bank of Angola, a pastiche of 18th century architecture completed in 1956, and a landmark of the new State’s capital to this day .
Portrait © SGL, Catálogo Geral Oficial
From this information we can surely conclude that the head of technical services, Vasco Vieira da Costa, created the projects or was otherwise responsible for most of the pavilions and for the concept of the event’s space and decoration - in which electricity, recently arrived in Luanda, played a major role (as it did in the photographic album). The stylistic diversity of the pavilions and ‘stands’, combined with their quality and originality, suggests a single authorship, that might have perused through different constructive suggestions in a very free play with appropriations and references. A likely hypothesis, as Vasco Vieira da Costa soon moved to Oporto to get a degree in Architecture at the Escola Superior de Belas-Artes, between 1940 and 1946.
'Actividades Económicas' magazine also published the Development Plan for the Colony of Angola (Plano de Fomento da Colónia de Angola). The plan was approved by the Government Council in 1936, and led to the creation of the Development Fund for the Colony (Fundo de Fomento da Colónia), supported by a significant loan - approved in Lisbon, already in 1938 - much against the balanced, austerity-based budgetary policy in effect until then. Amongst the various published documentation, we can find record of the controversy raised by an isolated defense of Lisbon’s restraint policy, contrary to the colonists’ interests, during the debate on this matter. All other arguments were in tune with the developmentalist goals expressed by a new policy adopted by Governor-General Coronel António Lopes Mateus. Lopes Mateus was the former Minister of War and the Interior (1930 to 1932), an active founding member of the National Union Party (União Nacional), and a Commander in Lisbon’s Police (PSP) between 1932 and 1935, before presiding to the board of administration of Diamang, and to the National Union Colonies Commission (Comissão das Colónias na União Nacional), during the 1940’s. A Governor in harmony with the economic sectors of the Colony expressed in the Exhibition-Fair.Another singular character in this story is Dr. António Gonçalves Videira, a republican and an autonomist, the brother-in-law of Cunha Leal, and one of the leaders of the discontent colonists in 1928, and of the rebels in 1930. He was an MUD founder and candidate, in 19456. In the final tribute ceremony for the Governor, he spoke “on behalf of his colleagues” (sic).
In the large central map 'Commercial relations of Angola with various countries', including PORTUGAL and São Tomé, U.S., Australia, Netherlands Antilles and Japan, FEA (French Equatorial Africa), Belgian Congo and Union of South Africa, British India, France, Holland, England, Belgium, Romania, Germany, Estonia and Norway. The other charts, Exports, Imports, Balance of Trade and General Commerce / Special Commerce, follow the same criteria, which is understandable from an economic standpoint, but raises issues in a colonial context. This image alone would be sufficient for the album’s circulation to be prohibited, as it happened in other cases, and I believe that the person responsible would be harassed, even if it was a personality close to the regime.
The album
Álbum comemorativo da exposição-feira de Angola. Luanda xcmxxxvii. (commemorative album of the exhibition-fair of Angola). [on the cover: Exposição-Feira de Angola (Exhibition-Fair of Angola), 1938]. Published by the Government-General of Angola (uncredited) 6 and [144] p. il. b/w). Photography (clichés): C. Duarte (Firmino Marques da Costa, n. 1910-?). Offset printing and reproduction by Litografia Nacional do Porto.
The album I found at the used book market on Rua Anchieta, in Lisbon, in 2011, has a library stamp from the Library of the University of Lisbon / College of Law, followed by a different stamp that explains its subsequent itinerary: “Offer from the Library of the Lisbon College of Law ”, clearly showing that the displacement did not take place during the agitation that followed the 25th of April Revolution. But did occur before or after? Inside the album there is still a card that identifies the “OFFER from the Administration of the Angola Exhibition-Fair (1938) LOANDA“ (“OFERTA da Direcção da Exposição-Feira de Angola (1938) LOANDA”). I later retrieved another copy from the window of an antique bookshop. It was also stamped: “University of Lisbon, College of Sciences, Library” (“Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Sciencias, Biblioteca”). I sent it forth to the Art Library of the Gulbenkian Foundation. I had news of yet another copy, in Oporto. It was unstamped, but the possibility of the distribution in 1938/39 having been limited to offers should be considered. Further copies exist, in the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library), the CIDAC - Centro de Informação e Documentação Anti-Colonial (Anti-Colonial Center of Information and Documentation) - and in the Library of the University of Coimbra (the last two are mentioned in Memórias d’África, on February 26, 2013). And yet another in the Lisbon Geographic Society, of which there was no record on the database, when I enquired about it in 2012. This number of copies, at least, are known to exist.
The volume has seven cover pages printed on the front side. The text is on six pages (“Exhibition-Fair of Angola”), and includes the partial transcription of the preamble to the ordinance of October 16, 1937 (n.2 434), that announced the creation of the event by “determination” from the Governor-General. “The General Government has for a long time been planning to hold an exhibition that can constitute an expressive and thorough testimony of the economic development of the entire Colony, the technical and administrative management carried out and the constant social progress that has taken place; in sum: of every aspect of the economic and social life of Angola.” The opportunity to materialize it came along, it is said, with the arrival of electricity to Luanda, and with “a remarkable improvement of the economic situation (that) allows us to face the future of the Colony with renewed optimism”. The event is assigned “a distinctly utilitarian and practical orientation, in an attempt to show Angola as it really is”, with particular relevance to economic affairs.
It is notorious that it is not said that the exhibition was set up to welcome the presidential visit; it is only noted that Carmona inaugurated the event on August 15. On the contrary, it is particularly relevant that “the idea developed” in face of the “successful realization of the provincial Exhibition of Nova Lisboa, held in September 1935”. This exhibition was not devoid of political significance (it was the commemoration of the 30 years of the city founded by Norton de Matos) and its catalogue is one of the elements to be taken into consideration when looking at the 1938 event, as is the catalogue from the Oporto Colonial Exhibition of 1934, with photographs by Alvão, that illustrates a different, opposite model of colonial exhibition, of a “metropolitan” nature, marked by the conjunction of imperialist nationalism and exoticism.
The beginning of the presentation refers that the idea of holding “an exhibition to document (…) the manifestations of social and economic progress” had “for years been flaunted in the press and discussed in official circles”, having been embraced by the governor, and having its materialization benefited from his presence and active support, “always and in every sector”. The work began in late October, under the direction of Dr. Frederico Bagorro Sequeira, head of the Farming and Economic Technical Section, assisted by Augusto de Almeida Campos, head of the Economic Studies Department, and “the direction of technical services was entrusted to customs official Vasco Vieira de Almeida, an artist of great merit.” Vieira de Almeida would become - after getting his degree in architecture in Oporto, 1940-46 - a reference in Angolan modernity, and his intervention in 1938 is one of the great sources of interest in this album. It was an exhibition led by technicians, rather than politicians.
The “project studies, terrain preparation, collection of statistical elements…” took place between October 1937 and April 1938, and the Exhibition construction works and installation were carried out between April and August of 1938. At the inauguration, President Carmona was accompanied by the minister of Colonies, Francisco Vieira Machado and by the Governor-General. The exhibition closed on September 18, having been visited by approximately seventy thousand people. The text also highlights the fireworks show and the “festivities of unusual distinction” at the ‘bar-dancing’, as well as the four conferences that took place in the hall of honor of the main pavilion (published in “Actividade Económica de Angola” (Angola Economic Activity) magazine, with the exception of “The missionary work in Angola” by the bishop of Angola and Congo Moisés Alves de Pinho), and several sporting events. It is said that the exhibition “had relatively large repercussions abroad” (Metropole and neighboring Colonies), to be reinforced by the “present album” and by a thorough documentary produced by the Cinematographic Mission to the Portuguese Colonies.
The illustrations, composed of photographs by C. Duarte, are presented as described below, unnumbered and for the most part uncaptioned, and divided into sections of very uneven length:
-”Views of the inauguration and visitor affluence” (5 photos. The only, until the 3 final images from the ‘bar-dancing’, to feature the visiting public, with the exception of some visitors by a train, in another photo) - “Exterior and interior views of various pavilions and stands” (only 3 photos, with very discrete human presence, namely in the unusual first image, a general view with two black children crossing the main avenue - see photo).
-”Various partial views” “(51 uncaptioned photos: uninhabited or scarcely populated spaces, with some isolated black figures, probably workers).
-”Exterior and interior views of the main pavilion” (24)… followed, without any separation, by other captioned “views”, (48).
-”Exterior and interior views of the ‘bar-dancing’ / Views of the fireworks show” (7 photos, of which two are exterior views, one of a dinner party, two of a dance, and the last two of the fireworks show, as if everything vanished at that point).
There are notable features in these photographs: 1. the near total absence of visitors; 2. the ample, barren and deserted spaces, most certainly photographed at dawn, and before the inauguration - the emphasis is on documenting the general space, constructions and decoration of the venue, as well as the displays and the information presented, in addition to the likely recognition of the photographic quality of the images. 3. the prolonged wandering of the photographer/visitor along the space of the event, before the first pavilions appear, identified in the captions. 4. the absence of historic sceneries evoking the Discoveries or referencing the political regime (that were present in the Navy hall and in the National Union Party hall ), and the exhaustive presence of charts and of numeric and statistical tables on the Colony’s population and economy. 5. the absence of images or references about Portugal or the “metropole” (although there is an exterior view of the of the Casa da Metrópole (House of the Metropole)); 6. the presence of indigenous art (Luanda Province Pavilion, exterior and interior; “Indigenous Village” in the Benguela Pavilion, interior: Bié and Malange Provinces Indigenous Art Pavilions, exteriors), but with a notable absence of any actual physical display of the indigenous people, in the “human zoos” that were common in colonial exhibitions; 7. the importance and quality of photography and graphic design, display stands and furniture.
There is an initial alternation of daytime and nighttime images, for 20 pages, as in an intermittent lighting effect, signaling the event of the arrival of permanent electrical power in Luanda. Also worthy of note is the map on the “Commercial relations of Angola with various countries”, that included Portugal and São Tomé alongside the U.S., Australia, French Africa and Belgian Congo, British India, France, Romania, etc. It is unlikely that such a choice was meaningless, and that it was not the object of reprehension - the issue was taken very seriously in other situations.
Radio Club of Angola (Radio Clube de Angola) transmitter
There is an obvious choice to represent the Exhibition-Fair through images that were produced in a single occasion, and by a single author, rather than to combine various records produced during the course of the event - which would be justifiable in a commemorative album. The photographer must have worked before or immediately after the inauguration, perhaps when the site was still closed, which matches the urgency of someone who was covering President Carmona’s visit within the context of the Cinematographic Mission. The album’s editor opted for the formal coherence of this work, which was probably left in Luanda in negatives or prints as soon as it was completed, while other negatives were shipped to the Agência Geral do Ultramar (General Overseas Agency), in Lisbon.
The use of the pseudonym C. Duarte matches the circumstances of the commission, that coincides with the photographer’s presence in Luanda as a member of the Cinematographic Mission. In the albums that document the presidential trip, published by the Agência Geral das Colónias (and digitized in Memórias d’África - Universidade de Aveiro ), the photographs are not credited. As we will see, António Sena has identified Firmino Marques da Costa as the author of most of the photographs in those albums, in an exhibition at the Ether gallery, in 1987.
The 1938 album states that the reproduction and offset printing were carried out at the Litografia Nacional do Porto, the same house that had printed the Photographic Album of the 1st Portuguese Colonial Exhibition, that featured 101 photographs by Alvão, the official photographer of Porto’34, presented by the director, Henrique Galvão. Both volumes have the same oblong format, and both are bound and stitched with a cord, without glue, but the second is quite bigger, measuring 24 x 41 cm.
Although written information in the Commemorative Album is scarce, four publications serve as a reference for Luanda 1938, in addition to the event’s Official Guide, and Catalogue: the 1934 album (Oporto), the 1935 exhibition catalogue (Benguela), the 'Actividade Económica de Angola' (Angola Economic Activity) magazine, already mentioned, and the 'Boletim Geral das Colónias' (Colonies General Bulletin) devoted to the presidential trip.
The confrontation of the two albums, from 1934 and 1938, demonstrates the conceptual differences between the two exhibitions. In one, the political intentions of a colonial affirmation in imperial terms and the display of exoticism; In the other, an inventory of the Colony’s own resources, and the affirmation of a local economic development dynamic - the annexed publications empathise that everything was designed and produced in Angola, by its authorities and associations, and by Angolan artists. (The Centro Português de Fotografia published, in 2001, the catalogue “Porta do Meio - Exposição Colonial de 1934 - Fotografias da Casa Alvão” with texts by Maria do Carmo Serém).
The catalogue of the first and only Benguela Provincial Exhibition and Huambo Trade Fair, expressly referred in the ordinance that determined the Exhibition-Fair as a precedent and an example (“the successful realization of the provincial Exhibition of Nova Lisboa, held in September 1935”) was published by the weekly “Voz do Planalto - Órgão de Defesa da Colonização Nacional Angola” (“Voice of the Upland - The Organ for the Defense of National Colonization Angola”) of Nova Lisboa. It is available online in the University of Florida Digital Collections at (UFDC). The publication is composed of 112 pages, including advertising, and measures 21 cm. The event signaled the 23 (!) years of the foundation of the city of Huambo by the “bold vision of the future” of Governor-General Norton de Matos (1912-15), who would later become High Commissioner, between 1921 and 1923. (Of Huambo / Wambu, one of the 14 former Ovimbundo kingdoms). In 1928, the then governor Vicente Ferreira changed the city’s name to Nova Lisboa, and had an official bulletin published, designating the city as the new capital of Angola. The decision, however, never went beyond the paper stage. (Wikipedia. In 1975 the city’s name was changed back to Huambo.
The event took place during a controversial period in the history of Angola, with the successive colonists’ conspiracies in 1930, 1933, and 1934, in protest against the Colonial Act, and with the intent of “releasing the colony from obedience to the metropole”, from which resulted the expulsion of Paiva Couceiro from Portugal, reported in the catalogue with a “telegram”. (see Fernando Tavares Pimenta, 2008, pp. 161-65).It is the demand for “an active Angola in industry, in agriculture, in livestock farming, and in commerce” that sets the tone for the exhibition, along with the “strength and audacity” of the colonists, among displays of disbelief and struggle, driven by the memory of Norton de Matos. (Henrique Galvão had promoted the Colonial Trade Fairs of Luanda and Lourenço Marques in 1932, which were mostly dedicated to the display of products from the “metropole”.)
“Actividade Económica de Angola” (“Angola Economic Activity”) magazine published a special issue (9 to 12, March to December 1938), of excellent graphic design. The issue featured the opening speech of the Exhibition-Fair, delivered by Governor-General Colonel António Lopes Mateus, as well as three of the conferences included in the inauguration programme, namely the “Economic situation of Angola”, by Dr. Moura Carvalho, and “Angola and its destiny”, by Dr. Manuel Múrias. The third conference was on the fishing industry. Particularly relevant was the publishing of the Development Plan for the Colony of Angola (Plano de Fomento da Colónia de Angola), along with other associated documents (explanatory report and basis for application, presented to the Government Council by the Governor-General; the Minutes from the Government Council session where the Report and Basis were discussed, in February and March of 1936; and the Opinion from the Corporative Chamber, along with the decree-law of 16th of August 1938, that created the Development Fund for Angola). Many of the photographs in the Commemorative Album (and no others) were reprinted in the magazine : “Views of the inauguration”; “Various partial views”; “Interior and exterior views of the main pavilion”; “Exterior and interior views of some pavilions and ‘stands’”. A closing page credited the officials of the Exhibition-Fair of Angola, naming the architects and artists involved.
graphic elements of 'Angola Economic Activity' magazine
Another decisive publication was the enormous special issue of the Colonies General Bulletin (Boletim Geral das Colónias) devoted to Carmona’s visit, where we can find journalistic reports on the Exhibition-Fair and various speeches, with highlight to those from the tribute and appreciation ceremony for the Governor-General. It was there that the autonomist and democratic activist colonist Dr. António Gonçalves Videira took the floor “on behalf of his colleagues”. It is a significant testimony of the political context of the event and of life in Angola.
Boletim Geral das Colónias (Colonies General Bulletin) XV - 163 [Special issue devoted to the visit of H.E. the President of the Republic to São Tomé e Príncipe and Angola(II)], ed. Agência Geral das Colónias, 1939, 628 pages (especially pp. 45-75). Available in digital format at Memórias de África - Universidade de Aveiro / Fundação Portugal-Africa.
TO BE CONTINUED
- 1. The ordinance that determined the initiative for the Exhibition-Fair was published in full in the Catálogo Geral Oficial (Official General Catalogue), Luanda:[s.n.], 1939, 122p., illustration + 1 map, and its preamble is partially transcribed in the Commemorative Album.
- 2. I have published the first comments on the Commemorative Album in http://alexandrepomar.typepad.com/alexandre_pomar/luanda-1938/ on the 28th August/2011 (1) , other annotations Luanda 2 / Luanda 3 / e 28/Nov./2012
- 3. Fernando Tavares Pimenta thoroughly studied Angolan nationalism and autonomism, in Brancos de Angola. Autonomismo e Nacionalismo (1900-1961) (Angolan whites, Autonomism and Nationalism (1900-1961), Coimbra, Minerva, 2005, and in Angola, os Brancos e a Independência (Angola, Whites and Independence), Porto, Afrontamento, 2008, but does not mention the 1938 Exhibition-Fair, nor does he address the actions of Governor-General António Lopes Mateus (1935-39), who is absent from the table of contents. The figure and intervention of Dr. António Videira, on the other hand, is mentioned in the second book, between 1925 and 1958 (when he had already deceased). The Luanda event is also left unmentioned in the final text by Francisco Bethencourt, “A memória da expansão” (Memory of the Expansion), in História da Expansão Portuguesa (History of the Portuguese Expansion), dir. F. Bethencourt e Kirti Chaudhuri, Círculo de Leitores, 1999, Vol. 5, in which celebrations of colonial presence in both national (1934, 37 and 40) and international (22, 30, 31, 37, 39) exhibitions are referenced in detail. The same occurs in the first chapter of the same volume, “O Império colonial salazarista” (The Salazarist Colonial Empire), by Yves Léonard, where colonial politics and propaganda (Oporto 34 and Lisbon 40) are also thoroughly addressed, but only within the “metropole”
- 4. The 1938 Exhibition-Fair is referred by José Manuel Fernandes in “Arquitectura e urbanismo no espaço ultramarino português” (Architecture and urbanism in the Portuguese overseas territory), in História da Expansão Portuguesa (History of the Portuguese Expansion), Vol. 5, p. 353, solely due to the unclarified role of Vasco Vieira da Costa. And again in Geração Africana, Arquitectura e cidades em Angola e Moçambique, 1925.1975 (African Generation, Architecture and cities in Angola and Mozambique, 1925.1975) Lisbon, Livros Horizonte, p.85, and also in Angola no século XX - Cidades Territórios e Arquitecturas - 1925-75 (Angola in the 20th Century - Cities Territories and Architectures - 1925 - 75 (coll.)), Lisbon 2010, particularly regarding the Pavilion of Honor, by architect Fernando Batalha - already having access to his estate, by then to be transferred to the Academy / ANBA. Ana Vaz Milheiro, in Nos Trópicos Sem Le Corbusier. Arquitectura Luso-Africana no Estado Novo (In the Tropics without Le Corbusier. Portuguese-African Architecture during the Estado Novo) mentions the Bank of Angola pavilion described in Arquitectura magazine (page 165), and the Indigenous Art pavilion, which “reproduces a typical African construction, that sets a common type in metropolitan and colonial societies” (page 320), based on an image printed in page 345 of Actividade Económica de Angola (Angola Economic Activity) magazine, attributed in the caption (with a question mark) to architect Fernando Barata. The same happens with a photograph of the interior of the pavilion, in pages 356-357. That attribution is certainly unjustified.
- 5. Rui Afonso Santos in the catalogue Art Déco – Colecção Berardo, What a Wonderful World! (Art Déco – Berardo Collection, What a Wonderful World!, catalogue), Madeira, Casa das Mudas, 2010/11.
- 6. Pimenta, 2008
Translation:
José André Abreu
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