Beatriz Correa - EMBALAGEM III
 Medium: Colored pencils and graphite on paper | Dimensions: 28.5 cm X 45.5 cm | Year: 1980

 

ARTWORK FORMAL DESCRIPTION
Still life composition depicting commonplace objects. Soap package accompanied by two cards of portrait stamps. The soap package is open, with its lid resting on the box. Both two cards of the portrait stamps are around the packaging. Tones of green, orange, and black are predominant.

 

THE ARTWORK
In “Package III”, Beatriz shows the classic packaging of the Eucalol soap and two cards of the “Celebrity Screen Series” (“Série Celebridades da Tela”) with stamp portraits of June Lang and Adolf Wohlbrueck. Eucalol branding was created in the 1920s: “The soaps that were manufactured here at that time used to be pink or white. Since EUCALOL derived from eucalyptus, it was green, which in turn led to a significant rejection by consumers and consequently few sales” (GORBERG). To overcome this situation, the company decided to launch the “EUCALOL STAMPS” together with the soap package, which would become an item for the buyers to collect. From 1930 to 1957 – the year when the last stamps were printed – 2,400 stamps were printed in 54 different themes. According to the artist: “In the 60s, (…) only few grocery stores (“armazéns secos e molhados”) survived thanks to the old neighborhood clientele; (…) one of the stores – João Darif Armazém – is then turned into a museum as the owners, Altevir, Algacir, and Adélia Darif, were interested in preserving not only the building, but also the counters, packages, iron, leaflets, cards, stamps, miniatures, nests, and other items. These objects have been kept since the store’s inauguration in 1921”. Thus, the artist explores this theme in her artwork, which presents a kind of magical realism, by revealing aspects of the everyday life of people from the past and turning old objects into a fetish.

 

FOR REFLECTION

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for care with food, objects, and personal hygiene has become significantly vital. In this sense, Beatriz Corrêa's work can be a symbol and a fetish: both for being an object of personal hygiene and being derived from eucalyptus. Eucalyptus has a long traditional history in folk medicine, and it is also an ingredient in the composition of many cleaning products. In addition, eucalyptus is good to treat wounds and infections; in mouth cleaning and sore throats (gargling); in ointments, it works as a decongestant; in teas, it is a medicine for colds and flu. Eucalyptus is the basis in the production of deodorants, disinfectants, and repellents. Additionally, it is used in steam baths and saunas, and it is one of the essential oils which have the best antiseptic properties (HARADA).

 

TECHNIQUE – GRAPHITE

Graphite (feminine noun) designates the mineral that fills the pencil, and Graphite (masculine noun) refers to the drawings or paintings made on walls. Graphite is a form of carbon, discovered in the 16th century. For its solid structure, it only needs mining and molding to be used. Yet, it is very rare and valuable. It is more commonly extracted from various ores, milled into powder, then subsequently mixed with clay. Wrapped by wood, graphite has become the most popular drawing tool.

TECHNIQUE – pastel

It is an artistic material that comes in the form of bars, sticks, or pencils. Also, the pastel technique is considered a middle ground between painting and drawing. Pastels are composed of pigment mixed with a gum binder and are available in several types of colors and hardness. This material leaves a smooth mark as almost pure pigment on the medium (usually paper or cardboard). Moreover, it can be easily mixed, having one color blended with another, with the individual strokes erased, providing the painting or the drawing with a gradient of soft tones.