Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

Escola de Belas Artes is one of the centers of the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and dates back to colonial times. A royal letter of Nov 20... 1800 by John VI of Portugal established the Aula Prática de Desenho e Figura in Rio de Janeiro. It was the first institution in Brazil systematically dedicated to teaching the arts. During colonial times, the arts were mainly of religious or utilitarian nature and were learnt in a system of apprenticeship. The Decree of Aug 12, 1816 created the Escola Real de Ciências, Artes e Ofícios , which established an official education in the fine arts. Then it was renamed as the Academia Imperial de Belas Artes , instituting a system of artistic education that would greatly influence the development of Brazilian art. On Nov 8 1890, the old Imperial Academy was transformed into the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes . In 1931, the School joined the University of Rio de Janeiro, the current Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
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Ana Maria Machado was born in 1941 in Rio de Janeiro and is, alongside Lygia Bojunga Nunes and Ruth Rocha, one of the most significant children's... book authors in Brazil. She started her career as a painter in Rio de Janeiro and New York City. After studying Romance languages she did a PhD with Roland Barthes at the 'École pratique des hautes études' in Paris. She worked as journalist for the magazine 'Elle' in Paris and the BBC in London. In 1979, she opened the first children’s literature bookshop in Brazil, 'Malasartes'. In 1969, Ana Maria Machado started to write. "I belong to that generation of writers who began to write during the military dictatorship, as children’s literature, alongside poetry and song texts, were amongst the few literary forms with which, through the poetic and symbolic use of language, you could make the ideas of a joie de vivre, individual freedom and respect for human rights known." Her story 'Menina Bonita do laço de fita' about a white and a black rabbit who marry and have a whole hoard of black, white and black and white patterned children, is a charming book about the living together of diverse ethnic groups.
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