All I want: The Political

Discover the selection of works that integrate this thematic section of the exhibition “All I want – Portuguese women artists from 1900 to 2020” followed by the curators' text.

By Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Curators: Helena de Freitas and Bruno Marchand

The end is in the middle (2017) by Ana VidigalOriginal Source: Private Collection

Section 10 – The Political

Politics enters the fray through the words and appropriated images of the collages and décollages of Ana Hatherly and Ana Vidigal. It also emerges in the stripping back of signs – words and logos – in Carla Filipe's trade union posters and the protest songs that accompany them. All of them point to the place of the collective and examine the relative importance of aesthetic models in their formation.

The end is in the middle (2017) by Ana VidigalOriginal Source: Private Collection

The end is in the middle, 2017 
Mixed media on paper
76,5 x 93 cm
Private Collection

The Streets of Lisbon (1977) by Ana HatherlyCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

The Streets of Lisbon, 1977
Paper collage on hardboard
110 x 85 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 91P743

The Streets of Lisbon (1977) by Ana HatherlyCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

The Streets of Lisbon, 1977
Paper collage on hardboard
110 x 85 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 91P745

The people reunited will never be - Graphic Representations (2009/2010) by Carla FilipeOriginal Source: Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Elvas – Collection António Cachola

The people reunited will never be - Graphic Representations, 2009 – 2010 
22 chairs; 18 paintings: acrylic paint on paper (15 x (88,5 x 69 cm); 88,5 x 67,5 cm; 89,5 x 70 cm; 89 x 60 cm); 1 flag: fabric and direct print (416 x 320 cm); 15 music themes selected from Antologia da Música Regional Portuguesa [Anthology of Portuguese Music] (Fernando Lopes Graça and Michel Giacometti, Label: Arquivos Sonoros, 5 volumes, 2nd edition, 1960-1970)
Variable dimensions
Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Elvas – Collection António Cachola, inv. 18.MM.74

Ghost Wagon Memorial (Flags) (2011) by Carla FilipeOriginal Source: Art Collection Fundação EDP

Ghost Wagon Memorial (Flags), 2011
Sewn fabric, eyelets
15 x (300 x 187 cm) (flags)
Variable dimensions
Art Collection Fundação EDP, inv. EDP.0417

From the series “The Vertebral and the Invertebrate II” (2007) by Susanne ThemlitzOriginal Source: Collection Pedro Bini Antunes

These works bring us both ends of the delicate exercise of citizenship and of the common challenge of "living together", of that imposed necessity of sharing space and the range of expectations that can cause voices to rise up in unison, or provoke dissension and erasure.

From the series “The Vertebral and the Invertebrate II” (2007) by Susanne ThemlitzOriginal Source: Collection Pedro Bini Antunes

From the series “The Vertebral and the Invertebrate II”, 2007
Silicone, boots and concrete
37 x 31 cm
Collection Pedro Bini Antunes

The Walk of Fear X (2011) by Graça MoraisOriginal Source: Collection of the Artist

The most extreme result of this conflicting reality is portrayed in the paintings of Graça Morais, whose raw images thrust us back into the brutality of the world through direct figurative representation, showing us snapshots from ongoing crises – the plight of migrants in the Mediterranean and refugees from the war in Syria – reflecting the dramas that have beset humankind throughout history.

The Walk of Fear X (2011) by Graça MoraisOriginal Source: Collection of the Artist

The Walk of Fear X, 2011
Pastel and charcoal on paper
102 x 152 cm
Collection of the Artist

The Walk of Fear IX (2011) by Graça MoraisOriginal Source: Collection Antero José dos Reis Barroso

The Walk of Fear IX, 2011 
Pastel and charcoal on paper
102 x 152 cm
Collection Antero José dos Reis Barroso

Untitled (1999) by Graça MoraisOriginal Source: Centro de Arte Contemporânea Graça Morais, Bragança

Untitled, 1999
Sepia ink, Indian ink and acrylic paint on paper
29,7 x 20,3 cm
Centro de Arte Contemporânea Graça Morais, Bragança, inv. CACGM-018 (C)

Untitled (1999) by Graça MoraisOriginal Source: Centro de Arte Contemporânea Graça Morais, Bragança

Untitled, 1999
Sepia ink, Indian ink and acrylic paint on paper
29,7 x 20,3 cm
Centro de Arte Contemporânea Graça Morais, Bragança, inv. CACGM-018 (F)

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Cover of the exhibition catalogueCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

This exhibition brings together about two hundred works by forty female Portuguese artists. Its primary objective is to assist in rectifying the systematic erasure that works by these artists – like so of their sisters elsewhere in the world – have suffered since time immemorial.

You are in section 10 of 14.
Continue the visit to the exhibition by accessing the following section:

All I want: Collective Memories
Credits: Story

The exhibition All I want: Portuguese women artists from 1900 to 2020, in its first moment at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, is part 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).

Curatorship and text:
Helena de Freitas and Bruno Marchand


Get to know in detail the universe of artists presented in this section through a text by Lígia Afonso / Plano Nacional das Artes:
Ana Vidigal
Ana Hatherly
Carla Filipe
Susanne Themlitz
Graça Morais

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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