Full Description
British Portuguese Paula Rego (1935-2022) carved out her place in international art history with a self-possessed, uncompromising expression and a burning commitment to fighting oppression and lack of freedom. She grew up in Portugal under António de Oliveira Salazar's dictatorship, which imposed strong constraints, especially on women's freedom, and throughout her long career Rego dissected the relationship between gender, the body and power in a dark, fantastical visual language. At a time when authoritarian forces are on the rise across the world and women's right to control their own bodies is under pressure, her images feel more relevant than ever. The exhibition Paula Rego - Dance Among Thorns presents Rego's powerful and unsettling body of work in its full breadth. The catalogue includes all works on display and a collection of new texts by the exhibition's curator Kari J. Brandtzæg as well as by Catarina Alfaro, Isabel Freire and Jennifer Higgie. Together, they sketch an intense and nuanced portrait of an artist who never ceased to challenge - whether aesthetically or politically.
Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Dance Among Thorns. An Essay on Paula Rego by Kari J. Brandtzæg
Paula Rego's Discovery of Edvard Munch by Kari J. Brandtzæg
Fairy Tales Should Be Respected. Paula Rego's Relationship to England by Jennifer Higgie
The Faces of War by Kari J. Brandtzæg
From the Waist Down by Isabel Freire
An Oratorio for Rejected Children by Kari J. Brandtzæg
'Theatres of Memory': Traces of a Childhood in Portugal by Catarina Alfaro
Timeline
List of Exhibited Works
Colophon
