Silvio Marcus De Souza Correa

Silvio Marcus De Souza Correa is PhD in Sociology from the University of Münster (Germany) and Full Professor at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) in Brazil. Research Scientist at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). Coordinator of the Research Group "History of Africa & Visual Culture" at CNPq. Coordinator of the Laboratory for African History Studies (LEHAf) at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC).

The project 

Title: The African art collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

"In the African collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, there are four carved ivory objects. According to the MNBA catalogue (1983), these four carved ivories originate from the Kingdom of Benin. They were presented as a 'gift' from the government of Senegal (Guimarães, 1983; Barretto, 2016; Silva, 2025). Despite the symbolic and diplomatic significance of this 'protocol gift', these four pieces have never been the subject of a monographic study or an in-depth stylistic analysis. The MNBA houses approximately one hundred objects of African art; however, this collection remains largely absent from global histories of African collections and is rarely mobilized in contemporary debates on African art, particularly those concerning provenance research. Drawing on studies of royal regalia (Girard-Muscagorry, 2018; Becker, 2014), this project seeks to situate these ivories within the broader framework of Senghorian cultural policy and its diplomatic uses. In line with recent global-history approaches to African ivory artworks (Horta, Almeida, Maker, 2021; Santos, Paiva, Gomes, 2018), the project aims to combine stylistic analysis, historical contextualization, and provenance research, while taking into account the circulation of these objects within the postcolonial Atlantic world."

Hosting institution: Institut national d'histoire de l'art, Paris

Selective Bibliography

• CORREA, Sílvio Marcus de Souza. Africa – Negro Art (1969/1970): Anatomy of an Exhibition. Anais do Museu Paulista: História e Cultura Material, São Paulo, v. 33, p. 1–28, 2025.
• CORREA, Sílvio Marcus de Souza. International African art exhibitions in Brazil (1964-1985) Acervo, v. 38, n. 1, p. 1–30, 2025.
• CORREA, Sílvio Marcus de Souza. Le parcours d’une statue équestre. Revue d'histoire culturelle, v. 9, p. 1-15, 2025.
• CORREA, Sílvio Marcus de Souza. Ivory and Itinerant Workers During The 'Scramble for Africa' Esboços: Histórias Em Contextos Globais, 31 (57), 197–219, 2024.
• CORREA, Sílvio Marcus de Souza. Brazil in the sights of Senghor: the first exposition of african art after the 1964 coup d’état. Visualidades, v. 21, 2023.
• CORREA, Sílvio Marcus de Souza. (2021). African ivory in Art Nouveau objects: Colonial empires and intertwined histories, in: MARK, Peter et al. African Ivories in the Atlantic World, 1400-1900. Centro de História da Universidade de Lisboa, p. 615-638.