Curves of Subversion:
Tropicality at War at the 1939 New York World’s Fair

Luis M. Castañeda
Syracuse University

Widely considered an early masterpiece of Latin American modern architecture today, the complex diplomatic function of Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer’s Brazil pavilion for the 1939 New York World’s Fair is much less well known. Defined by abstract, sparsely decorated walls punctuated by a steep, curving access ramp, the pavilion’s exterior enclosed an elaborate scenography intended to embody Brazil’s tropical exuberance. Designed by U.S.-based architect Paul Lester Wiener, this interior space defined by curvilinear forms included displays of crops drawn from various areas of the country, a collection of brightly-colored singing Amazonian birds, ponds with aquatic plants, and coffee tasting stations. This hedonistic display meant to appeal to all the visitors’ senses was implemented in the midst of tense negotiations among Brazil’s diplomatic envoys to the fair about the still-dubious suitability of modernist architecture to embody Brazil’s national representation. For the New York-based organizers of the Fair, the pavilion’s elaborate scenography could ideally serve to herald a series of commercial and economic alliances between the governments of the U.S. and Brazil. More significantly, as the unfolding events of World War II threatened to divide the U.S. government from its Latin American peers, the pavilion could also serve to firm up a much-desired military alignment between them. This paper provides a close formal reading of the architectural language of this ambitious building in conjunction with a close analysis of the multiple diplomatic negotiations that informed its design. It argues that, while its modern form lent itself well to these kinds of political instrumentalization, its radical appearance, which severely limited its appeal among the wider public of the Fair and among the cultural bureaucrats who managed the commission, simultaneously threatened to upset this careful power balance at every turn.