Rosa Ramalho
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
Rosa Ramalho was the most renowned creator of Figurado de Barcelos [Figures of Barcelos]. These originate from a Neolithic clay tradition that is specific to this town in northern Portugal. Such figures are distinguished from other pottery pieces by their spontaneous, playful character, rather than being designed for any practical purpose.
She-monkey (1960) by Rosa RamalhoOriginal Source: Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos
She-monkey, 1960
Inorganic material, painted clay
13,2 x 8,2 cm
Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos, inv. 03.1.47
Monkey with chain (1960) by Rosa RamalhoOriginal Source: Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos
Monkey with chain, 1960
Inorganic material, glazed clay
25,5 x 15,3 x 8,1 cm
Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos, inv. 03.1.15
Big-headed man (1960) by Rosa RamalhoOriginal Source: Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos
Big-headed man, 1960
Inorganic material, painted clay
27,6 x 13,1 x 12,8 cm
Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos, inv. 03.1.21
The clay modeller’s pieces are enigmatic and disconcerting, interweaving everyday life with fantastical and religious elements with abandon. The “dolls” that she used to mould and expand upon the tradition and imagery variously take the form of Christ figures, saints, devils and little shrines, “wild beasts” and hybrid creatures such as werewolves or men with the head of a donkey. Yet there are also women in ox-drawn carts and children on bicycles. Such pieces evoke and are infused with the narratives and ancestral rituals of the region.
Ramalho’s pieces bear the standard traits of the form, but also have startling, grotesque features. They range from a monochrome ochre to exuberantly colourful creations.
Monkey Chicken (1965) by Rosa RamalhoOriginal Source: Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos
Monkey Chicken, 1965
Inorganic material, clay
27,1 x 20 x 13,3 cm
Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos, inv. 03.1.3
Fertilization (1965) by Rosa RamalhoOriginal Source: Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos
Fertilization, 1965
Inorganic material, clay
22,6 x 30 x 10,6 cm
Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos, inv. 03.1.13
Man with plough (1960) by Rosa RamalhoOriginal Source: Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos
Man with plough, 1960
Inorganic material, painted clay
10,9 x 21,4 x 8 cm
Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos, inv. 153
Big-headed woman (1960) by Rosa RamalhoOriginal Source: Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos
Cabeçuda, 1960
Inorganic material, painted clay
20,2 x 11,2 x 12,5 cm
Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos, inv. 03.1.24
Her unique work, an expression of the artist’s eccentricity and surreal vision, initially garnered support from contemporary artists – first António Quadros and later Ernesto de Sousa in the 1950s and 60s – against the backdrop of an ethnographic movement that would go on to encourage the breaking down of barriers between popular and high art, raising the profile of the former as ‘naive art’, free of the codes prevalent in modern and contemporary art.
Animal (1960) by Rosa RamalhoOriginal Source: Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos
Animal, 1960
Inorganic material, painted clay
14,6 x 7,6 x 8,8 cm
Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos, inv. 05.3.33
Adapted goat (1965) by Rosa RamalhoOriginal Source: Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos
Adapted goat, 1965
Inorganic material, glazed clay
17 x 21,6 x 10 cm
Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos, inv. 1693
Plate with monogram (1965) by Rosa RamalhoOriginal Source: Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos
Plate with monogram, 1965
Inorganic material, glazed clay
20,6 x 20 x 2,4 cm
Museu de Olaria / Município de Barcelos, inv. 1673
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 Rosa Ramalho's works presented in the context of this exhibition:
All I want: Starting Point
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