Physical Dimensions: w55.2 x h52.3 x d27 cm (Without frame)
Exhibition: Caramulo, Portugal
Donated by:: The artist
Description: Belonging to the second generation of Portuguese modern artists, Martins Correia was a sculptor who established a reputation for himself in the 1930s at official exhibitions of the Secretariado da Propaganda Nacional (S.P.N.). He also produced paintings, drawings and illustrations, in which the link to sculpture was a constant feature, over the many years of his long lifetime. This piece exemplifies the skilful and serene decorative stylisation that always characterised his work, immediately revealing in its title an unaccustomed symbolic side that is resolved in modern terms: the bust of young woman, with a calm face and symmetrically parted hair that is given a notably graphic treatment, displays a quality of silent affectedness, which is counterbalanced by the decorativeness of the counter-curved outlines of the base, whose support, made of a contrasting polished stone, gives a gentle balance to the piece.