Ana Vieira

Learn about the artist's universe through a text accompanied by a selection of works from the exhibition “All I want – Portuguese women artists from 1900 to 2020”

By Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Text by Lígia Afonso / Plano Nacional das Artes

Le Déjeuner sur L’Herbe 77 (1977) by Ana VieiraOriginal Source: Estate Ana Vieira

Contemplation of the body and space and the deconstruction of the mechanisms by which art is sanctified and received are concerns that run through the entirety of Ana Vieira’s work. Her career has been marked by disciplinary complexity and a feel for the poetic that spans theatre, painting, sculpture, photography, sound, environment and installation.

Le Déjeuner sur L’Herbe 77 (1977) by Ana VieiraOriginal Source: Estate Ana Vieira

Le Déjeuner sur L’Herbe 77, 1977
Slide projection of the painting Le Déjeuner sur L´Herbe by Édouard Manet and tablecloth with objects
Variable dimensions
Estate Ana Vieira, inv. AV.1977.I.001.1+1PA/1PA

Pronouns (2001) by Ana VieiraOriginal Source: Contemporary Art Collection Fundação Altice Portugal

Pronouns, 2001
Black felt mantles, iron and pewter plate, sound
130 x 75 cm
Fundação Altice

Milieu – Dining Room (1971) by Ana VieiraCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

The titles of her exhibitions from 1968 onwards denote the nature of the work on display. Imagens Ausentes [Absent Images] and Ambiente [Milieu] explore dichotomies such as public/private, presence/absence, interior/exterior and transparency/opacity. In a dining room, plates, cutlery and glasses are laid out neatly on a table, which is surrounded by chairs. The public hears but cannot see a familiar setting;  it is off-limits to them. They find themselves expecting a scene that never happens.

Milieu – Dining Room (1971) by Ana VieiraCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

A mesh prevents viewers from accessing the work, thus making the constraints associated with the customary public experience of art part of the work itself.

Milieu – Dining Room (1971) by Ana VieiraCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Milieu – Dining Room, 1971
Nylon mesh, painted wooden table, crockery, glassware, inox knives, sound
200 x 312 x 312 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 78E608

Tree (1972/1973) by Ana VieiraOriginal Source: Collection Carlos Nogueira

Tree, 1972-1973
Wood, net, spray paint and objects
98,6 x 69 x 8,4 cm
Collection Carlos Nogueira

Untitled (1968) by Ana VieiraOriginal Source: Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto

Variously using cut-out silhouettes, projected outlines, hidden objects, revealed rooms, a corridor once walked down, a longed-for house and a volcano crossed by lights, Ana Vieira’s scenography moves from the gallery to public spaces, and even out into the natural landscape of the Azores, where she grew up. Her works are gradually scaled up so that our bodies become inscribed onto them as we are urged to traverse and inhabit them.

Untitled (1968) by Ana VieiraOriginal Source: Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto

Untitled, 1968
Enamel on wood
113 x 183 x 16 cm
Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto, inv. FS 0564

Untitled (Venus) (2002) by Ana VieiraOriginal Source: Collection Carlos Nogueira

Untitled (Venus), 2002
Wood and fiberglass
127 x 78,2 x 40 cm
Collection Carlos Nogueira

Untitled (c. 2000) by Ana VieiraOriginal Source: Estate Ana Vieira

Untitled, c. 2000
Silicone and plexiglas
75 x 42 x 30 cm
Estate Ana Vieira, inv. AV.200A.O.003

Credits: Story

Selection of works presented at the exhibition All I want: Portuguese women artists from 1900 to 2020, in its first moment at Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, within the scope of the cultural program that takes place in parallel to the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2021.

Exhibition organized by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture, Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage (DGPC) and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in co-production with the Center of Contemporary Creation Olivier Debré, Tours, and with the collaboration of the Plano Nacional das Artes (Portugal).

Curators:
Helena de Freitas and Bruno Marchand


Text by Lígia Afonso / Plano Nacional das Artes
Selection of online resources Maria de Brito Matias


Learn more about Ana Vieira's works presented in the context of this exhibition:
All I want: The House
All I want: Listen to Me

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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