20th century Cubism

Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973) is widely recognized as one of the founders of Cubism, along with Georges Braque (1882 – 1963). This artistic movement aimed to deconstruct the image through geometric figures, drawing inspiration from diverse sources, such as African masks and the works of French artist Paul Cézanne. Cubism, which emerged in 1907, represented a new way of visualizing reality, moving away from traditional illusionism and approaching a more geometric and fragmented vision of the world.

The first phase of Cubism, known as Analytical Cubism, developed between 1908 and 1912, characterized by the fragmentation of the object into multiple facets and the almost total absence of color, prioritizing tones of gray, brown and green. This phase is marked by a rigorous analysis of shapes and volumes, where artists deconstructed objects and represented them from different perspectives simultaneously.

George Braque

Large Nude 

1907 

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Naked

1989

Pencil on paper

21cm x 29cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Naked

1989

Pencil on paper

21cm x 29cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva is an artist who, although not directly associated with Cubism, shares the ability to balance figuration with abstraction, often addressing the female figure in his compositions. This treatment of the female figure, which can be both explicit and implicit, underlines his ability to balance figuration with abstraction. In his works, he frequently explores themes such as seated women, reclining women, motherhood, family, man and woman, dance and crucifixion. Although the figures in his works are often almost completely dissolved into abstraction, there is a constant presence of noticeable figurative references, indicating an unbreakable connection with the representation of the human.

Pablo Picasso

Maternity

1909

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Maternity

1955

Watercolor on cardboard

34cm x 43cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Maternity

1994

Ballpoint pen on cardboard

25cm x 50cm

The term "Cubism" was first used by French art critic **Louis Vauxcelles in 1908, after seeing a painting by Braque. Vauxcelles described the work as “full of little cubes,” an observation that quickly led to widespread use of the term, despite initial resistance from its creators.

Cubism evolved into Synthetic Cubism around 1912, which is characterized by the reintroduction of color and the simplification of forms. At this stage, the artists started to incorporate collage elements and different materials, replacing the volume and space of the previous painting with a vocabulary based on the fragmentation and simultaneity of forms and creating a new dimension of the anti-naturalistic and irrational space, breaking even further with the previous pictorial traditions and emphasizing the autonomy of art.

During his neoclassical period, Picasso explored the theme of motherhood and the special relationship between mother and child, creating works that evoked the solidity and vitality of ancient statues. These paintings are marked by a soft palette of grays and pinks and highlight the female figure as a symbol of strength and connection to the earth. The maternity picture shows a woman dressed in a classic white dress while holding a squirming baby on her lap. She is so absorbed with her son that she doesn't know we are watching them. Their interplay is both lively and tranquil, evoking tender lyricism and the calming spirit of motherhood. Picasso's neoclassical period lasted until about 1925, when his art took yet another direction.

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Maternity

1965

Plaster on aluminum structure

53 cm x105 cm x 56 cm

The Three Dancers was painted by Picasso in June 1925. The painting shows three dancers, the one on the right is barely visible. A macabre dance takes place, with the dancer on the left with her head tilted at an almost impossible angle. The dancer on the right is often interpreted as Ramon Pichot, Picasso's friend who died during the painting of the Three Dancers. The one on the left is Pichot's wife, Germaine Gargallo, and the one in the center is Germaine's boyfriend, Carlos Casagemas, also a friend of Picasso. Casagemas committed suicide after failing to shoot Germaine, twenty-five years before Pichot's death, and the loss of two of his best friends spurred Picasso to paint this chilling depiction of the love triangle.

Pablo Picasso

The three dancers

1925

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Dance

1980

Oil on canvas

69cm x 84cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Dance

1959

Plaster on aluminum structure

60 cm x 78 cm x 41 cm

Picasso painted The Three Dancers in Paris after a trip to Monte Carlo with his wife, ballerina Olga Khokhlova. At this time, Picasso was attracted to Andre Breton's surrealist movement. This radical work marks Picasso's entry into surrealism and his descent into his disturbing representations of the female form. However, he was never a fully enrolled member of the Surrealist movement: his realistic artistic response and his individuality never truly submitted to the movement's Freudian concepts of the supremacy of the subconscious state. However, the emerging Surrealists of the Dada movement claimed Picasso as their own, with the reproduction of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) in their 1925 manifesto to endorse his influence on their work. The Three Dancers is similar to Les Demoiselles a'Avignon in its revolutionary impact - but it is not the elements of primitivism but the psychotic frenzy of the women that is disturbing.

Pablo Picasso

Dance

1929

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Dance

1956

Watercolor on cardboard

50cm x 54cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Dance

1979

Ballpoint pen on cardboard

40cm x 58cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Dance

nineteen ninety

Watercolor on cardboard

27cm x 33cm

Picasso's relationship with Surrealism, although unofficial, is evident in works such as Crucifixion (1930), which continues to explore the distortion of bodily forms and manic grimaces, combined with the pyramidal structure of the figures, characteristics that echo anguish. and the chaos of his personal and artistic experiences.

Pablo Picasso

Crucifixion

1930

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Crucifixion

1955

Watercolor on cardboard

27cm x 38cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Crucifixion

1979

Ballpoint pen on cardboard 50 cm x 65 cm

Thus, Cubism, from its origins with Picasso and Braque to its subsequent evolutions and influences, represents one of the most significant transformations in modern art, challenging traditional perceptions and opening the way for new forms of artistic expression and interpretation.

20th century North American abstraction

Some of the protagonists of post-war North American abstraction do not share the gestural character of abstract expressionism and opt for the development of geometric languages, especially German artists who emigrated to the United States of America in the 1930s. Among them, Josef Albers stands out. (1888 – 1976), former Bauhaus professor who always remained faithful to the constructive spirit of this prestigious school that reconciled geometric clarity with more expressive abstract forms.

Josef Albers

Color study for a "Variant/Adobe"

1948 

Oil on absorbent paper

© 2020 Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/ARS, NY

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Untitled

1959

Oil on cardboard 1959 

49cm x 42cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva (1920 – 2003) was a Portuguese artist whose work, although predominantly known in the field of sculpture, also includes an important series of abstract paintings that began to be developed in 1958. These paintings are characterized by the use of rectilinear geometric shapes , such as rectangles and squares, and the application of primary colors. 

Manuel Pereira da Silva's creative process is notable for its meticulous and detailed approach. Before executing his final paintings, the artist devoted considerable time to the preparation phase. This phase involved the production of a series of detailed studies and color schemes that helped to crystallize the initial idea. These preparatory studies allowed him to plan each aspect of the painting with precision. Thus, although the execution of the final painting could only take a few hours, the preparatory work was extensive and in-depth, reflecting the importance he attached to the planning and conception of the work.

Manuel Pereira da Silva's exhibitions frequently highlighted this aspect of his creative process, presenting not only the final paintings, but also the preparatory drawings and color studies. This gave the audience a complete view of how his ideas evolved from initial conception to final realization. 

In addition to paintings, Manuel Pereira da Silva used paper in a significant way. Paper allowed for a more informal and experimental approach, a contrast to the meticulous precision of his final works. In this medium, he could freely explore variations in color and shape, allowing for a spontaneity that complemented his rigorous working method. Thus, paper served as a space for experimentation and development of ideas, a place where creativity could flow more freely and less contained.

Therefore, while sculpture can be seen as Manuel Pereira da Silva's main field of activity, his abstract paintings and the preparatory processes that preceded them reveal a fundamental aspect of his artistic work, marked by the duality between rigorous planning and spontaneous experimentation.

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Untitled

1959

Oil on cardboard 1959 

49cm x 42cm

The emotional language of Mark Rothko (1903 – 1970), an emigrant from Latvia, is also detached from the gestural burden. In order to stimulate deep emotions in the viewer, the painter organizes his paintings based on color fields of vibrant rectangular shapes that seem to float over an indeterminate space. Its colorful rectangles seemed to dematerialize into pure light.

Mark Rothko

Untitled 

1949

Oil on canvas

142cm x 121cm

Anita Rogers Gallery

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Untitled

1958 

Oil on platex 

148cm x 129cm

After experimenting with abstract expressionism and surrealism, he developed, in the late 1940s, a new way of painting. Hostile to the expressionism of Action Painting, Mark Rothko (as well as Barnett Newman and Clyfford Still) invents a meditative way of painting, which critic Clement Greenberg defined as Colorfield Painting.

Mark Rothko

Untitled 

1968 

Acrylic on watercolor paper mounted on linen

Private collection, New York. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Willem de Kooning (1904 – 1997), one of the creators of North American abstract expressionism, represents an image of life and death, which contrasts with the idyllic world of Eden. The gestural, transcendental and moral composition explores bodily distortion and introduces the symbolism of the crucifixion with a violent dissection of the symbolic attributes of Golgotha: the nails of the cross, the ladder and the skull.

Willem de Kooning

Abstraction

1949

Oil and oleoresin on cardboard. 41 x 49 cm

Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, Madrid

Pablo Picasso

Crucifixion

1930

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Crucifixion

1955

Mixed technique on cardboard

34cm x 25cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva, like many artists from the Porto School, maintained a strong connection with the tradition of the sublime through abstraction. His artistic approach, innovative for the time, separated himself from the literal representation of nature, focusing on expressing personal emotions and visual poetics through an abstract aesthetic language.

The works of Manuel Pereira da Silva, like those of his abstractionist colleagues, did not seek to describe the natural world in a direct way. Instead, the shapes in his paintings and sculptures could suggest elements of nature – such as parts of the human body, landscapes or interiors – without the intention of representing them faithfully. Abstraction served as a means to communicate the emotions and subjective visions of artists, going beyond the mere imitation of the visible world.

A significant example of this approach can be seen in Manuel Pereira da Silva's crucifixion series. In this series, geometric shapes and abstract compositions are used to evoke feelings and reflections on suffering, pain and transcendence, themes traditionally associated with crucifixion. The works are not about representing the figure of Christ or the literal scene of the crucifixion, but rather about expressing the intense emotions and human experience associated with the event.

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Crucifixion

1978

Pen on paper

Dim. 33cm x 59cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Crucifixion

1979

Pen on paper

Dim. 50cm x 65cm

In this way, Manuel Pereira da Silva and his contemporaries from the Porto School explored the capacity of abstract art to communicate in a deep and subjective way. His bold works, by avoiding direct representation, allowed the viewer to connect with the artists' emotions and inner experiences, making abstraction a powerful vehicle for expressing the sublime.

Composition of Women is one of the earliest works in Willem de Kooning's long sequence of paintings of women, which culminated in one of the most aggressive revisions of the female figure in art history. Beginning as a study for a commissioned portrait that the artist never completed, the portrait served as a vehicle for de Kooning to explore his ongoing interest in merging figurative themes with the painterly concerns of abstraction. Although the intentional anatomical distortions reflect the influence of Pablo Picasso, the seated figure also recalls the sensuous women painted by 19th-century French artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, with their tight bodices and delicate features.

Willem de Kooning (1904 – 1997)

1940

Seated Woman

Oil and Coal in Masonite

Dimensions: 137 cm × 91 cm

Albert M. Greenfield and Elizabeth M. Greenfield Collection, 1974

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Seated Woman

1957

Gouache and Charcoal on cardboard 

40cm x 53cm

In 1938 he began his series entitled Mulheres, which caused a sensation in the artistic circuit, with a theme that would become recurrent in his production.[5] In the 1940s he joined a group of artists, including Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, Adolph Gottlieb, Ad Reinhardt, Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko, who would form the so-called New York School. They struggled to find a personal path that surpassed the major currents of the time, such as cubism, surrealism and regionalism. His emotive gestures and abstract pieces were the result of his attempt to distance himself from other movements. The style they pioneered became known as abstract expressionism or action painting.

Willem de Kooning 

1969

Seated Woman

bronze, 113 x 147 x 94 inches

Private collection

Photograph by Adam Bartos

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Seated Woman

1957

Plaster on aluminum structure

54cm x 68cm x 41cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Seated Woman

1957

Gouache and Charcoal on cardboard 

41cm x 65cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva shares with Willem de Kooning a deep interest in the female figure and in the integration of figurative themes with abstract concerns. In his works, Manuel Pereira da Silva frequently explores themes such as sitting women, reclining women, motherhood, family and couples. Although the figures in his works are often almost completely dissolved into abstraction, there is a constant presence of noticeable figurative references, indicating an unbreakable connection with the representation of the human.

De Kooning, in turn, began his famous sequence of paintings of women with "Woman I," which is considered one of the most aggressive revisions of the female figure in art history. This series began as a study for a commissioned portrait that was never completed, serving as a vehicle to explore the fusion of figurative themes with abstraction. Its intentional anatomical distortions reflect the influence of Pablo Picasso, while the female figures also evoke the sensuous women of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, with their tight bodices and delicate features.

Pablo Picasso

Seated Woman

1937

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Seated Woman

1952

Plaster on aluminum structure

14 cm x 23 cm x 45 cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva, despite his main focus on sculpture, also maintained a significant production of paintings and drawings in which the female body is a recurring theme. Like de Kooning, his female representations are not realistic portraits, but rather interpretations that combine figuration with abstract elements. This approach allows for a freer expression of the artist's emotions and visual poetics, moving away from mere literal representation and entering the realm of suggestion and evocation.

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Seated Woman

1957

Gouache and Charcoal on cardboard 

40cm x 53cm

Therefore, while De Kooning is known for his more aggressive and expressive approaches to the female figure, Manuel Pereira da Silva explores these themes in such a way that the figures, even almost dissolved in abstraction, maintain a perceptible reference, revealing their deep connection with figuration and human themes.

P55.Art – The Art Platform - ID 14730381

 

P55.Art – The Art Platform - ID 14730381

Manuel Pereira da Silva (1920-2003)

Ballpoint on paper

Signed and dated 1988

Dim.: 30 cm x 43 cm

20th century Post-war European figuration

During the central years of the 20th century, European art underwent a significant transformation. Although followers of European informalisms emphasized texture and irregularity, new figurative languages ​​emerged that configured an image of contemporary man through new standards of expressive freedom.

Lucian Freud and Henry Moore

For the British, the human being became a central theme. Lucian Freud, for example, stood out for his intensely realistic and detailed representations of the human body. His paintings captured the vulnerability and physicality of the human figure, revealing both the beauty and imperfections of the body. Henry Moore, on the other hand, explored the human form through his monumental and abstract sculptures, which often referred to organic and primordial forms. Moore's works combined the figurative with a plastic language that brought abstraction closer to matter, resulting in an innovative and expressive synthesis.

Manuel Pereira da Silva

In Portugal, Manuel Pereira da Silva followed this trend. His work combined the figurative with a plastic language close to the abstraction of matter, creating a bridge between human representation and the abstract exploration of materials. His sculptures captured the essence of the human form while exploring new possibilities for plastic expression.

Lucian Freud

Portrait of a Man (Baron H.H. Thyssen-Bornemisza)

1981 - 1982

Oil on canvas. 51 x 40 cm

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Retrato do pintor Reis Teixeira

1958

Óleo sobre tela, 54 x 42 cm

Henry Moore

Duas Mães com os filhos nos braços

1941

Esferográfica, lápis e aguarela em papel. 38 x 56.4 cm

Museu Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Mãe com o filho nos braços

1955

Aguarela sobre cartolina, 29 x 39 cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Mães com os filhos nos braços

1962

Óleo sobre cartolina, 50 x 32 cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Mulher com criança nos braços

1952

Gesso sobre estrutura de alumínio, 31 x 32 x 55 cm

Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti

Other artists of this period were marked by a feeling of pessimism and anxiety, caused by the crises of the two world wars. These artists imposed a new sense of alienation from the body, representing it in distorted and injured ways. Francis Bacon, for example, is known for his depictions of inhuman and disturbing figures, who appear trapped in a state of perpetual suffering. His works reflect a dark and hopeless view of the human condition.

Alberto Giacometti, in turn, portrayed the human body in a disintegrated manner, with his evanescent and long figures that seem on the verge of dissolution. His slender and fragile sculptures capture a deep feeling of alienation and hopelessness, symbolizing the fragility of human existence in the face of the crises of the 20th century.

Alberto Giacometti

Nu reclinado visto de trás

1959

Tinta-da-china sobre papel. 26 x 37 cm

Museu Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Mulher reclinada

1984

Óleo sobre tela, 63 x 84 cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Mulher reclinada

1990

Gesso, 70 x 52 x 37 cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Mulher reclinada

1985

Esferográfica sobre cartolina, 50 x 65 cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Mulher reclinada

1985

Esferográfica sobre cartolina, 50 x 65 cm

Manuel Pereira da Silva

Mulher reclinada

1986

Esferográfica sobre cartolina, 50 x 65 cm

Post-war European figurative art is marked by a search for new forms of expression that capture the human condition in its fullness. Artists such as Lucian Freud, Henry Moore, Manuel Pereira da Silva, Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti exemplify the diverse approaches and sensibilities of this period. While some sought a synthesis between figurative and abstraction, others explored alienation and human suffering, reflecting the complexities and uncertainties of the post-war era.

P55 – The Art Platform - ID 14287594

 

P55 – The Art Platform - ID 14287594

Manuel Pereira da Silva (1920-2003)

Ballpoint on paper

Signed and dated 1977

Dim.: 50 cm x 65 cm