Arnolfini opens an exhibition of works by Paula Rego

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Thursday, March 28, 2024


Arnolfini opens an exhibition of works by Paula Rego
Paula Rego, Children and their Stories, 1989. Etching and aquatint, plate size 33.9 x 52.3 cm/ paper size 56.9 x 57.7 cm., edition of 75 with 14 Artist Proofs. Courtesy Paula Rego and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London ©️ Paula Rego.



BRISTOL.- Arnolfini presents the work of Portuguese artist Dame Paula Rego RA - unarguably one of the most important figurative artists of her generation – delving into her extraordinary imagination and celebrating the alchemical process of printmaking that is as central to her practice today as it has always been.

Following on from the largest retrospective to date of the artist’s work at Tate Britain (July to October 2021), and exhibitions with Cristea Roberts Gallery (new representatives of the artist’s prints), Hogarth House and Museum de Reede, in Belgium (both 2021) and Victoria Miro (late 2021) Rego returns to Arnolfini almost 40 years after her first exhibition with the gallery (in 1982-83), creating an opportunity for a new generation of visitors to explore the artist’s subversive stories.

Featuring over 70 prints from across Rego’s extensive career, Subversive Stories ventures inside the artist’s disquieting imagination in which she casts herself as storyteller and master puppeteer, interweaving her wit and dark humour to reimagine stories old and new. In Rego’s world women loom monstrously large, repositioned as the protagonists and heroes as she reinterprets classic tales, imbuing innocence with a darker sexuality, and instilling issues of gender, power, and politics with both light and shade.

Exploring printmaking as a process that informs Rego’s multi-layered interpretations, the exhibition looks deeper at Rego’s mastery of the medium (encompassing lithography, etching and screen print) as printmaking takes on a metaphorical meaning, bringing shadowy readings to childish mischief, whereas as the harrowing practices of illegal abortion or female genital mutilation are brought out into the light.

Drawing on Rego’s childhood, familiar faces from past and present appear throughout, and dreams and nightmares come alive through the immediacy of the medium; its spontaneity feeding Rego’s constant curiosity and vivid imagination. This celebration of the artist’s enduring appeal reveals the multi-layered and magical language of printmaking, creating surreal and subversive stories with not so ‘wicked’ women at their heart.

Rego comments: “I have very fond memories of showing at the Arnolfini in 1983 and am looking forward to showing my prints there next year. When the prints are shown well, their stories dominate, so I’m very interested to see how it all comes together.”

Paula Rego is represented by Cristea Roberts Gallery, the worldwide representative for her original prints and Victoria Miro, representatives of original works.

Dame Paula Rego RA was born in Lisbon in 1935. After attending finishing school in Kent, England, she studied at the Slade School of Art in London between 1952–56. In 1957 she returned to live in Portugal with her husband, the painter Victor Willing, and their three children, before finally settling in London in 1963. Rego came to prominence in Britain after her first major solo exhibition at the Air Gallery, London, in 1981 and subsequently at the Serpentine Gallery, London in 1988, which was followed by her becoming the first National Gallery artist in residence in 1990.

Rego explores themes of power, rebellion, sexuality and gender, grief and poverty, often through female protagonists. One of the most important figurative artists of her generation, her work ranges from painting, pastel, and prints to sculptural installations.

Rego made her first prints, experimenting with etching in the 1950s, at the Slade School of Art. In the 1980s she began to focus more closely on the medium and has since produced a profound body of work as a printmaker, including her coveted series The Nursery Rhymes, 1989, a group of over 30 etchings that are housed in major museum collections all over the world. From 1991 to 1996 the Arts Council of England and the British Council toured this body of work to venues in the UK, USA, Spain, Portugal and Asia. Her prints not only possess the extraordinary imaginative power of her paintings, but reflect the innovative possibilities of the medium through her experimentation with etching, lithography and aquatint, often employing hand-colouring in the process.

Amongst her numerous awards and honours, Rego has represented Britain and Portugal at the São Paulo Biennale and has received honorary doctorates from Oxford and Cambridge Universities and from the Rhode Island School of Design in the US. In 2010 she was made a Dame of the British Empire and won the MAPFRE Foundation Drawing Prize in Madrid. In 2016 she was elected a Senior Royal Academician and in 2019 she received the Portuguese Government's Medal of Cultural Merit. In 2017 the BBC broadcast a documentary, Paula Rego: Secrets and Stories, directed by Rego's son, Nick Willing, which provided a unique insight into the artist's life and work.

In 2006 the Portuguese government commissioned a museum dedicated to Rego which opened in 2009. The Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, located in a district outside Lisbon, permanently houses Rego’s entire collection of over 200 prints alongside drawings, preparatory works and paintings loaned by the artist. Major solo exhibitions of Rego’s work have recently taken place at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, which toured from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh and MK Gallery, Milton Keynes (2019-2020); Musée de L’Orangerie, Paris (2018); La Virreina Centro de la Imagen, Barcelona (2018); Jerwood Gallery, Hastings (2017); Pallant House, Chichester (2017).

Prior to this Rego had been accorded solo exhibitions and retrospectives at the Gulbenkian Foundation, Paris (2012); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, which toured to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C; (2007); Serralves Museum, Porto (2004); Tate Britain, London (2004); Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal and the Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut (2001); Dulwich Picture Gallery, London (1998); Tate Liverpool (1997); National Gallery, London (1991); Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon (1988); Serpentine Gallery, London (1988). Her work is housed in major public and museum collections all over the world.










Today's News

February 10, 2022

McNay Art Museum champions San Antonio artist community with two exhibitions

SFMOMA appoints Christopher Bedford as its new Director

Exhibition at TOTAH features eleven new works by Mel Bochner

Photographer's death casts harsh light on the cold streets of Paris

Sotheby's auction of Louis Vuitton & Nike "Air Force 1" by Virgil Abloh soars to record-breaking $25.3 million

The Metropolitan Museum of Art to renovate its galleries for Ancient Near Eastern and Cypriot Art

One of evolution's oddest creatures finds a fossilized family member

Getty Museum presents 'Grand Design: 17th Century French Drawings'

Exhibition at Gagosian presents sculptures by Anthony Caro from the 1960s and 1970s

Arnolfini opens an exhibition of works by Paula Rego

National Gallery of Victoria acquires Lavinia Fontana painting, first woman professional painter in Europe

Hauser & Wirth presents a selection of sculptures, ceramic pieces and works on paper by Fausto Melotti

Christie's presents 'Deep Impact: Martian, Lunar and Other Rare Meteorites'

Museum acquires archive of nearly 200 rare documents related to soldiers of color in the Revolutionary War

Tate Britain presents a multi-channel video installation by Danielle Dean

Venus Over Manhattan now representing Cornelius Annor

The Estate of Emory Ashford Schwall, Sr. to be auctioned by Ahlers & Ogletree

Benedict Cumberbatch has heard your confusion about 'The Power of the Dog'

Exhibition at OJMCHE's Menashe Gallery features four large-scale works painted by Henk Pander

Decoding Dickens' secret notes to himself, one symbol at a time

Kathleen Guzman joins WorthPoint's board of directors

Norma Waterson, a key figure in Britain's folk revival, dies at 82

Lin-Manuel Miranda on writing lyrics in Spanish and the heartbreak of 'Dos Oruguitas'

The Kirov Academy, a leading ballet school, to close in May

The Need for TikTok in Elevating Social Sales

8 Healthy Ways for Men to Speed Up the Weight Loss Process

Easy Ways You Can Make Your Interior Reflect Your Personality

What You Need to Know About Funeral Services Singapore

Different Styles to Wear Maxi Dresses

Brilliant Bathroom Renovation Ideas




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful