All I want: The Word
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
Section 5 – The Word
We are invited into this section by a drawing by Maria Helena Vieira da Silva. In using writing in a visual dimension, the artists conquer another territory that was systematically denied to them. This conquest occurs at the level of meaning, but also marks a spatial, symbolic and intellectual triumph.
A Fernando Pessoa (1974) by Maria Helena Vieira da SilvaOriginal Source: Musée national d'art moderne – Centre de création industrielle (MNAM-CCI)
A Fernando Pessoa, 1974
Ink on blotting paper
25,5 x 17,5 cm
Musée national d'art moderne – Centre de création industrielle (MNAM-CCI), inv. AM 1975-135
Ana Hatherly's writings merge echoes of political revolution (with references to Portugal's Carnation Revolution of 1974) with notions of liberating writing and words from meaning altogether.
The Revolution (1977) by Ana HatherlyOriginal Source: Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto
The Revolution, 1977
Acrylic paint on paper
84 x 60 cm
Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto, inv. FS 0519
Descending Writing (1979) by Ana HatherlyCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Descending Writing, 1979
Indian ink on paper
10,4 x 14,6 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 04DP2001
Only you (2001) by Ana HatherlyCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Only you, 2001
Spray paint on card stock
24 x (24,9 x 32,4 cm); 150,7 x 131,2 cm (total)
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 03DP1844
We witness this crossing of boundaries between writing, drawing, collage and painting once again in the work of Vieira da Silva and Lourdes de Castro.
Letters and Comb (1962) by Lourdes CastroCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Letters and Comb, 1962
Paint and collage on canvas
95,5 x 63,5 x 3,5 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 10P1623
In the work of Salette Tavares, letters and words reacquire meaning, but also become games and linguistic traps.
Spider (1963) by Salette TavaresCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Spider, 1963
Paper, typographic print; Ed. 75/100
40 x 40 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 15GP4019
Mer de Lyriques (1963) by Salette TavaresOriginal Source: Collection Salette Brandão
Mer de Lyriques, 1963
Typography on paper; Ed. 79/100
40 x 40 cm
Collection Salette Brandão
Wounded vase (1959/1963) by Salette TavaresOriginal Source: Collection Salette Brandão
Wounded vase, 1959-1963
Ceramics
14 x ø 20 cm
Collection Salette Brandão
Semicolon vase (1959/1963) by Salette TavaresOriginal Source: Collection Salette Brandão
Semicolon vase, 1959-1963
Ceramics
24 x ø 21,5 cm
Collection Salette Brandão
QUEL AIR CLAIR (1963) by Salette TavaresOriginal Source: Collection Salette Brandão
QUEL AIR CLAIR, 1963
Typography on paper; Ed. 59/100
40 x 40 cm
Collection Salette Brandão
Fun-nel (1960s) by Salette TavaresOriginal Source: Collection Salette Brandão
Fun-nel, 1960s
Embroidered linen
20 x 24,5 x 20 cm
Collection Salette Brandão
Maquinin (1963) by Salette TavaresOriginal Source: Private Collection of Tiago Aranda Vianna da Motta Brandão
Maquinin, 1963
Stainless steel
40 x 40 x 200 cm
Private Collection of Tiago Aranda Vianna da Motta Brandão
Inês Botelho traces out a perfect symbolic gesture on the floor, while Luisa Cunha occupies the space using an ostensibly delicate vocative (Senhora! – "Madam!") which takes on an impertinent tone through repetition.
19 degree rotation, translation and lead (2013) by Inês BotelhoOriginal Source: Courtesy of the Artist
19 degree rotation, translation and lead, 2013
Clay, whitewash on clay and floor, iron (plate and chain welded together)
125 x 240 x 197 cm
Courtesy of the Artist
Madam! (2010) by Luisa CunhaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Madam!, 2010
Loudspeaker system (black wood covered with red fabric), sound (recorded voice dictating text), 22' (loop)
14,7 x 24,3 x 13,3 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 13E1746
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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 5 of 14.
Continue the visit to the exhibition by accessing the following section:
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:
Maria Helena Vieira da Silva
Ana Hatherly
Lourdes Castro
Salette Tavares
Inês Botelho
Luisa Cunha
