By Baron Henri Estramant.
Till 28 August 2015, the Casa do Brasil (Avenue Louise/Louizalaan 350, Brussels) is hosting a colour as well as black and white photographic exhibition of pictures taken by King Leopold III of Belgium in the 1960s.
Between 1962 and 1967 the former monarch paid several visits to Mato Grosso and different regions of the Amazons. He was an avid photographer who captured images mixing the beauty of the tropical forest as well as scenes of quotidian life. Likewise King Leopold III is featured in complicity with the locals.
The actual collection comprises more than 50 000 images of his global expeditions. In Brussels the exhibition is being curated by Cristina Barros Greindl, member of the Funds Leopold III and Maria Izabel Branco Ribeiro, Director of the Museum of the Foundation Alvares Penteado located in São Paulo.
The exhibition itself was displayed already back in 2010 at São Paulo at the Museu de Arte Brasileria of the Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado, in 2011 at the Museu de Artes e Oficio in Brasilia and in 2013 at Brazil’s parliament.
In Belgium it was first exhibited at La Hulpe in 2011 thanks to the Fondation Folon. This time the exhibition at the Casa do Brasil is being supported by the Funds Leopold III.
The vernissage was patronised by HRH Princess Esmeralda of Belgium, Lady Moncada, President of the Funds Leopold III and Brazil’s ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, HE Sr. André Amado.
Leopold III participated in the first expeditions of the brothers Villas Boas to the communities of the indigenous Txicão. In fact, the king did not only live beside the tribes but shared their meals, and customs during his stay. These experiences provided him with a “feeling of a secret fraternal identity with all men, regardless their origins, beliefs or civilisations”. For the motive he created the “King Leopold III Fund for Nature Exploration and Conservation”.
Leopold III was the IV King of the Belgians between 1934 and 1951.
For more information:
Fonds Léopold III: www.naturalsciences.be/LIII/FR
Folon Foundation: http://fondationfolon.be/en/
Embassy of Brazil to Belgium and Luxembourg:
http://bruxelas.itamaraty.gov.br/pt-br/agenda_cultural.xml
