Maria Antónia Siza

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

Untitled (not dated) by Maria Antónia SizaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

While Maria Antónia Siza produced hundreds of works on paper, including drawings in Indian ink, watercolours, gouaches and prints, alongside embroidery and some paintings, her production remained unknown to the public until very recently, almost half a century after her tragic death at the age of 32.

Untitled (not dated) by Maria Antónia SizaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Untitled, not dated
Embroidery
124 x 40,5 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 18TXP3

Untitled (not dated) by Maria Antónia SizaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Untitled, not dated
Embroidery
144 x 46,5 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 18TXP9

Untitled (1960s) by Maria Antónia SizaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Her drawings are mainly figurative, with linear expression and a calligraphic quality. She always began by drawing the feet of her subjects, which were then developed spontaneously on the paper in energetic, ascending and zigzagging lines. In this way, figures were revealed as surreal, grotesque, deformed and contorted beings, engaged in indiscernible but individualised actions and gestures, appearing variously standing, falling on the floor or lying in bed. These figures – aged, decrepit and agonising men and women – seem almost always to float.

Untitled (1960s) by Maria Antónia SizaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Clustered in incorporeal constellations, they shift and find balance in dynamic melancholic choreographies of enormous complexity and compositional rigour, enacting shared and coordinated gestures. Others, in contrast, appear isolated, silent and enigmatic on the white and empty background of the page.

Untitled (1960s) by Maria Antónia SizaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Untitled, 1960s
Indian ink and wash on paper
27,7 x 21 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 18DP4458

Untitled (1960s) by Maria Antónia SizaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Untitled, 1960s
Indian ink and wash on paper
27,7 x 21 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 18DP4464

Untitled (1960s) by Maria Antónia SizaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Disquieting and bizarre, delirious and fantastic, intimate and tragic: thus is Maria Antónia Siza's free and personal universe characterised, a violent and brutal manifesto on the frailty of the human condition.

Untitled (1960s) by Maria Antónia SizaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Untitled, 1960s
Indian ink and wash on paper
43 x 30,7 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 18DP4467

Untitled (1960s) by Maria Antónia SizaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Untitled, 1960s
Indian ink and wash on paper
43 x 30,8 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 18DP4466

Untitled (1960s) by Maria Antónia SizaCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Untitled, 1960s
Indian ink and wash on paper
43 x 30,5 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 18DP4469

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 Maria Antónia Siza's works presented in the context of this exhibition:
All I want: Feminine Plural

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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All I Want
Over 240 artworks by more than 40 women: Explore the new exhibition celebrating Portuguese women artists from 1900 to 2020
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