Mily Possoz
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
A painter, illustrator, designer and engraver, Mily Possoz trained and worked as an artist in Lisbon, Düsseldorf, Brussels and, in particular, Paris. Although she was most prolific as a painter, with work characterised by the use of strong, sensual colour, loose, sweeping brushstrokes and the poetic mood of her themes, she gained the greatest renown as an engraver, especially for her illustrative and editorial work. This allowed her to earn a living from her work from the very outset.
Untitled (not dated) by Mily PossozCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Untitled, not dated
Gouache and graphite on paper
34,8 x 33,8 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. DP53
Untitled (not dated) by Mily PossozCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Untitled, not dated
Gouache and graphite on paper
49,3 x 31,8 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. DP49
Untitled (not dated) by Mily PossozCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Untitled, not dated
Gouache, graphite and oil on paper
65 x 46,7 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. DP55
She was a founding member of the Jeune Gravure Contemporaine society, created in Paris in 1929. Her work was shown in group exhibitions of engraving, alongside pieces by the likes of Cézanne, Matisse and Picasso. She explored drypoint and lithographic techniques, in the course of which the pared-back, stylised aesthetic of Japanese engraving seeped into her work. Said traits can be found in pieces such as the drawing of the cats.
She also spent much time poring over Flemish and surrealist paintings, the influence of which is evident from the subtle figurative distortion of her still lifes, portraits and landscapes.
Untitled (not dated) by Mily PossozCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Untitled, not dated
Graphite on paper
31,5 x 23,9 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. DP51
Her work is notable for its cosmopolitan city scenes and bourgeois domestic interiors in which men, cats and dogs are mere background presences, while women take centre stage, reading, contemplating, resting, relaxing and socialising. These are modern, emancipated, independent, intellectual women, much like Mily herself.
Étude de fillettes à la fenêtre (not dated) by Mily PossozCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Étude de fillettes à la fenêtre, not dated
Drypoint on paper; Ed. 5/60
41,6 x 32,5 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. GP839
Petites filles aux provisians (not dated) by Mily PossozCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Petites filles aux provisians, not dated
Drypoint on paper; Ed. 5/60
39,5 x 31,6 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. GP833
Rêverie (not dated) by Mily PossozCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Rêverie, not dated
Drypoint on paper; Ed. 2/50
45,5 cm x 32,2 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. GP840
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
Learn more about Mily Possoz's works presented in the context of this exhibition:
All I want: Feminine Plural
