Galeria Bonino was a pioneering art gallery founded by Alfredo Bonino that operated in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, and New York, with the Rio de Janeiro branch opening in 1960 on Rua Barata Ribeiro in Copacabana. The gallery was notable for being the first in the city designed specifically for exhibiting works of art, and it was administered by Giovanna Bonino. It became one of the most enduring and solid galleries for visual exhibitions in Rio, creating an important flow with other galleries in New York and Buenos Aires. Over more than two decades, it exhibited the great names of Brazilian art of its time, balancing figurative, informal abstractionist, and geometric artists. In October 1960, Lygia Clark exhibited her revolutionary “Bichos” sculptures there for the first time. [1]
Design and History
The visual identity of Galeria Bonino was designed by Brazilian graphic designer Beatriz Feitler (1938-1982), who projected the gallery’s visual identity during her early career in Rio de Janeiro. [2] Feitler, who had returned to Brazil in 1959 after graduating from the New York School of Design, was working at the magazine Senhor when she took on the Galeria Bonino project. [2]
Feitler also collaborated with artist and illustrator Glauco Rodrigues on the layout of the gallery’s exhibition catalogues. The catalogue for the inaugural exhibition, held in May 1960, featured text by Mario Pedrosa and reproductions of works by artists including Antonio Bandeira, Lygia Clark, Iberê Camargo, Di Cavalcanti, Volpi, Milton Dacosta, Djanira, Goeldi, Fayga, Portinari, Aldemir Martins, Loio Pérsio, Luis Seone, Raul Soldi, Miguel Ocampo, among others. The layout was credited to Bea Feitler and Glauco Rodrigues. [3] The catalogue for the gallery’s sixth exhibition, “Esculturas de Lygia Clark,” held in October 1960, also credited the layout to Feitler and Rodrigues. [4]
Meaning and Symbolism
Documented descriptions of the Galeria Bonino logo’s specific symbolism are limited. The Enciclopédia Itaú Cultural confirms that Feitler projected the gallery’s visual identity but does not describe the mark’s design elements or meaning. [2] The gallery’s identity was created during a period when Feitler was developing her characteristic bold use of typography, as seen in her contemporaneous work for the magazine Senhor and book covers for Editora do Autor. [2]
Typography and Design
While the specific typeface used in the Galeria Bonino wordmark has not been documented in available sources, Feitler’s design approach at the time was characterized by an uninhibited use of typography. Her work on the Senhor magazine covers and the book cover for “O Homem Nu” treated typography as raw material for constructing figurative illustration, a trait that anticipated her later international success. [2] The gallery’s catalogues were printed in a 20 x 20 cm format, suggesting a compact, refined presentation consistent with the gallery’s modern art focus. [3]
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