“The eight panels showcased at the main entrance hall of Bandeirantes Palace were commissioned to the artists in 1959 by the company ‘Electrolândia’, and they were sold to the Palaces Collection later. Four immigrant and four Brazilian artists represent the plurality of peoples who contributed to build up São Paulo's culture. They also represent the clash between figurative and abstract aesthetics, under discussion in the 40s and 50s decades.
The artists exposed here were inspired by different currents of Modernism, with a language of their own and pervaded by influences from their original cultures of. Among the abstractionist immigrants, it is possible to observe the Japanese aesthetic influences in the works of Tomie Ohtake and Manabu Mabe, as in the Italian references by Danilo Di Prete and the local colors interpretation observed in Alfredo Volpi.
On the figurative Brazilian side, the Afro-Brazilian culture appears in Aldemir Martins' Berimbau Player [Tocador de Berimbau]. The three-banded armadillo is exalted by Marcelo Grassmann, besides the Brazilian population represented in the work of Clóvis Graciano as well as in the Washerwomen [Lavadeiras], by Mario Zanini.”