Helena Almeida
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
The work of Helena Almeida essentially deconstructs the two-dimensional nature of painting. Three-dimensional paintings from 1969 reveal the hidden side of the canvas, unveiling the view from elsewhere. The previously unseen side now displays the essential structure that supports the fabric, a curtain that covers, uncovers, falls and curls up, blending with the window it once concealed.
Untitled (1969) by Helena AlmeidaOriginal Source: Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto
Untitled, 1969
Acrylic paint on canvas and wood
131 x 99 x 15 cm
Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto, inv. FS 0745
The house (1979) by Helena AlmeidaOriginal Source: Ar.Co – Centro de Arte e Comunicação Visual
The house, 1979
Black and white photograph, acrylic paint
40 x 29 cm
Ar.Co – Centro de Arte e Comunicação Visual, inv. 27
Hear me (1979) by Helena AlmeidaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Hear me, 1979
Super 8 video transferred to digital format; black and white, no sound, 3’46”
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. IM13
The house (1979) by Helena AlmeidaOriginal Source: Collection Mário Sequeira
The house, 1979
Black and white photograph, acrylic paint
49,5 x 69 cm
Collection Mário Sequeira
Inhabited painting (1977) by Helena AlmeidaOriginal Source: Collection Módulo – Centro Difusor de Arte
Inhabited painting, 1977
Black and white photographs, acrylic paint
7 x (46 x 40 cm)
Collection Módulo – Centro Difusor de Arte
By wearing the canvas, Almeida explores the relationship between painting and the artist’s body in performance. She would go on to repeat such activities, photographed by Artur Rosa, her husband and “viewer number one”. In a series of black-and-white photographs, Almeida applies brushstrokes of a vivid blue, before proceeding to detach the colour and stash it in her pocket.
She variously hides from or reveals herself to the viewer, whom she challenges to “Feel me, Hear me, See me” (Series “Sente-me, Ouve-me, Vê-me”). Through its countless iterations, this series explores the inherent impossibilities of the sensory experiences that have been stipulated.
Hear me (1979) by Helena AlmeidaOriginal Source: Collection Caixa Geral de Depósitos
Hear me, 1979
Vintage fiber-base silver gelatin prints, glued on cardboard, Ed. 2/3
16 x (17,4 x 23,4 cm)
Collection Caixa Geral de Depósitos, inv. 360819
Inhabited drawing (1976) by Helena AlmeidaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Inhabited drawing, 1976
Photograph and collage
12 x (40 x 50 cm)
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 94FP378
Drawing (1989) by Helena AlmeidaOriginal Source: Collection Caixa Geral de Depósitos
Drawing, 1989
Indian ink and horsehair on paper
39 x 29 cm
Collection Caixa Geral de Depósitos, inv. 422033
Clad in “sharp, deep black”, her body cuts across highly architectural canvases that inhabit the space of her studio. This was the very place where, as a girl she would pose for her father, the sculptor Leopoldo Almeida. Here, too, she would examine the powers of seduction of a woman who, as she got older, reshaped her involvement with sculpture, crossing the wall, lowering her foot, her hand or entire body to the floor.
Seducing (2002) by Helena AlmeidaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Seducing, 2002
Black and white photograph, acrylic paint
199 x 129,5 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna inv. 02FP365
Untitled (Ref. #5) (2010) by Helena AlmeidaOriginal Source: Courtesy Galeria Filomena Soares
Untitled (Ref. #5), 2010
Black and white photograph
125 x 135 cm
Courtesy Galeria Filomena Soares, inv. 6847
Seducing (2002) by Helena AlmeidaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Seducing, 2002
Black and white photograph
194 x 129 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 02FP366
Learn more about the artist:
Exposition «Corpus», Helena Almeida | Jeu de Paume (in English, sous-titré français)
Helena Almeida | Museu Calouste Gulbenkian (in Portuguese)
Helena Almeida | Arte Num Minuto, por Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian e RTP (in Portuguese)
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 Helena Almeida's works presented in the context of this exhibition:
All I want: Listen to Me
