JOSÉ MENACHE NEISTEIN (1934-2020) was born in São Paulo, Brazil in a Jewish immigrant family. He was an intellectual and appreciator of different artistic and cultural fields, performing throughout his life activities as a critic, teacher, curator, cultural attache, lecturer, and art collector.

Residing in the United States from 1970 to 2020, Neistein was invited by the Itamaraty to occupy the position of Cultural Attaché at the Brazilian Embassy as
Executive-Director of the Brazilian-American Cultural Institute (BACI) in Washington D.C. During the same period, Prof. Neistein was also a Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a Contributing Editor for the
Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress.

José Neistein's art collection, universal and eclectic, had been developed over 50 years of acquisition and study. Its growth reflected, all over the years, the diversification of the collector’s interests, the maturing of his taste, and the
deepening of its quality.