Showing posts with label Ana Luísa Oliveira. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ana Luísa Oliveira. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 06, 2019

The Oporto School of Fine Arts

Following his visit to the Faria de Guimarães Industrial School, Arlindo Rocha started the Special Sculpture Course at the Oporto School of Fine Arts, at a time when teaching in Fine Arts implied an initial formation, based on the values of drawing, providing After four years of intensive copy design classes, students begin the study of modeling, also by copying the former; soon after completing the Special Course, Arlindo competes for the Higher Sculpture Course at the same school. Accompanying a teaching reform, which aimed to modernize it, Arlindo Rocha was a student of teachers such as Rodolfo Pinto do Couto, Carlos Ramos, Dódio Gomes and Joaquim Lopes.

At this time, the responsible for the discipline of Sculpture is Rodolfo Pinto do Couto (1888-1945); As a disciple of Teixeira Lopes, Pinto do Couto was, as a painter and sculptor, a faithful follower of the teaching of classical norms, presenting as a program for the Sculpture course a thorough study of the human figure, continuing the School of his Master, which would come from Soares dos Reis.

For five years, students responded to various exercises in copying the old models, modeling small figurines in clay, which over the course evolved into larger exercises. The clay, with its great plasticity, offers little resistance to the movement of the hand, free of great care or of great utensils to be worked, becoming the matter of choice for sculpture studies, allowing a gradual evolution in the work of imitation of natural referents. This material, capable of satisfying the two most important conditions for a sculptor - to be subject to all forms that need to be given and to preserve these forms in almost unalterable way - becoming the material of choice for sculpture studies, also allowing performing small, medium and large scale exercises.

The learning of the human body began with studies that began by copying fragments of human body heads and ends in plaster, portrayed in a first phase, in relief exercises, where students aimed to deepen the mastery of apparent contours and volumes. illusory ones whose concern was mostly on the frontal view of the relief, and the student could later evolve into figures of round shape, in which the study of profiles is more in-depth. From the observation and representation of the detail, the students came to the composition of the complete figure at the end of the course, in addition to the copies of the old plaster models, and only in the third year, the study of the living model was introduced, thus providing the students. full mastery of the representation of the forms of the real. In sculpture, the most common definitive materials are stone and bronze, although industrial or alternative materials considered as poor materials are being introduced at this time.

The delay in the search for so-called modern materials for sculpture is related, on the one hand, to the fact that Portugal is "closed" to the developments in Europe, and, on the other, to the absence of technological disciplines. at the Fine Art Schools. Following the program model identical to that of the French and Italian schools, it was not for the Academy to pass on knowledge of sculpture technologies such as stone, wood or foundry. We can say that the sculpture was taken only as modeling.

The major concern would be to induce students in theoretical subjects such as Composition, leaving aside the techniques of “reproduction”. Direct carving was not understood as a possibility of execution of the final work, but as a means or technique of reproduction of the original, modeled piece. The techniques of sculpture were therefore given to skilled professionals, who were often trained as sculptors, but who carried within themselves an ancient and familiar tradition of flowerbeds and flowerbeds, whose uses and customs endowed them with an unreachable wisdom in so few years. course at a School of Fine Arts.

The students of sculpture, after making their models in clay, followed the work of trainers, responsible for making the molds, then allowing the passage of the initial study plaster. However, plaster does not offer the same durability as a noble material; learning how to master a technology, such as the stone or the foundry process, was only possible for those who could later train in the studio of great masters, who passed on to their disciples the knowledge, technology and adapted tools that evolved at a rapid pace, making the increasingly simplified and fast work of roughing or casting, which will partly influence the tendency of synthesis and the search for a personal language of the artist.

Shortly after Pinto do Couto's death, Barata Feyo (1899-1990) takes the place of sculpture's ruler, causing a series of pedagogical changes, begun in 1949, with the aim of extending the closed academic cycle in which the teaching of sculpture was. With the creative and pedagogical action of teachers such as Carlos Ramos, Joaquim Lopes and Dórdio Gomes, students gain greater ideological tolerance, which, combined with the exhibition initiatives, which brought together teachers and students in an art considered avant-garde, they embody the attempt to modernize Porto's teaching in relation to the Lisbon school, where the values ​​and academic bases were followed, followed by Simões de Almeida, Tio and Sobrinho and later by Leopoldo de Almeida. However, the teaching of Porto can only take into account the expansion of the teaching of sculpture, which was then expanding, and which gave rise to the construction of new pavilions, which aimed to introduce students to the most varied technologies. Values ​​and theoretical disciplines remained in the same connection with classical values, only translated into modern solutions. Learning and evaluations themselves are no longer guided by modeling exercises, and students can explore and deepen new themes and problems of art that arose simultaneously with the modernist waves that were vigorously practiced abroad.

Arlindo Rocha's academic formation is involuntarily led by the paths of the "hermetic teaching of human morphology", as we can observe in his sculptures during this period, with a great classical influence, close to the Greek canon, as it is Youth case, a portrait of a colleague cast in plaster, based on a mimesis process; that is, through direct representation, where formal idealization meets the beautiful, lacking the work of elements capable of characterizing the sculptor's “style”. Interestingly, after four years, Arlindo returns to this same theme, devising another portrait also titled Youth, where he tries, in a primary way, to break free from concrete volumes that make up a human face. This time, the face is feminine, composed of faceted plans, resulting from a synthesis of shapes and volumes, providing the sculptor with a first exercise of formal liberation, affirming here the contrast of idealization compared to the first Youth, held in 1943, while still a student. at EBAP. In this work we realize that Arlindo Rocha seeks to free himself from the forms of nature as referents, starting a process of interiorization, in which he begins by idealizing the organic volumes that make up a face, as concrete volumes, through geometric planes, starting the sculptor in a a course that would later demonstrate a formal and abstract statement of sculpture.

Arlindo Rocha claims to have started to learn sculpture when they stopped teaching him, not because he despised his academic background, but because he was interested early on in the possibility of dematerialization of sculpture, thus seeking new answers to a sculptural practice never explored before. Portugal. This personal research would, however, be hampered either by 'the long stage around objects only seen' or by the 'climate of complete stagnation and utter lack of information which the students sought to break with their own initiatives'.

Arlindo Rocha did his end-of-course work only in 1951, where he presents, for evaluation, an allusive relief to the death of Antonio Francisco Ferreira da Silva Porto (1818-1890). It was a bas-relief, which would be an integral part of the Monument to Silva Porto - The Pioneer, which Arlindo, along with the architect Vasco Vieira, was developing to build in the city of Silva Porto, Bié.

Due to the dimensions of his final work, Arlindo Rocha requires the Director of the School of Fine Arts of Porto to make the relief in the studio where he worked until 1956. It was the studio of the sculptor Henrique Moreira (1890-1979), installed at the back of the building. Jardim Arnaldo Gama, which Arlindo shared with his friend Manuel Pereira da Silva (1920-2003). With a path within a realistic aesthetic, Henrique Moreira was also a sculptor of the old school, whose academic modeling is completely visible in his works, particularly those that resulted in foundry, but that leaves a certain influence of Art Deco, when he carves it. stone, in particular the female figures. We cannot, therefore, say that Henrique Moreira transmitted to Arlindo any characteristic of his way of thinking or making sculpture. However, it would be interesting to study the experience of the sculptor Henrique Moreira with his disciples, since, despite his obvious admiration for classical language, this interaction seems to have left an impressive imprint on the two disciples who, in a different way, dedicated themselves looking for a personal language, within an abstracting language.

In the photo we can see Arlindo Rocha from the front and Manuel Pereira da Silva from the back, in the studio of Henrique Moreira.

Obtaining the final grade of 17 values, this final work brings together the classic composition and idealization, with a more synthesized conception, which reminds us a little of the work of his studio colleague, Manuel Pereira da Silva. With the utmost simplicity and resulting from a long process of synthesis, the honoree is represented without clothes, wrapped only in a flag, showing the biographical note of the death of Silva Porto. The body and flag are a contrast of absolute light and dark, for work almost without volumetric modeling, resembling an incision of design in the granite itself. The end result, we may consider, is in line with contemporary work for its time, since it is not based on modeling, but on straightforward design, in which only two scale models were previously performed. By creating planes and cutting lines, dug deep into the stone, Arlindo obtains the necessary contrasts to perceive his theme, thus not having to worry about passing light between organic volumes, which slightly enhances the appearance. This relief, which approaches the personal language of the artist, was affirmed in two distinct fields of sculpture, one more figurative and the other devoid of figuration, the one closest to a formal schematism and antithesis.

In a medium where the news about the main figures of Contemporary Art were scarce, it was worth to these young people to share, among their gatherings, their personal experiences during trips or even the exchange of international magazines, rare at the time, which makes the echoes of modernism in Portugal are of great importance. The young students sought to know the new values of art that was made and lived abroad. In this Oporto generation there are several names, which would constitute a particular group: Fernando Lanhas, Nadir Afonso, Arlindo Rocha, Fernando Fernandes, Amandio Silva, Manuel Pereira da Silva, Altino Maia, Eduardo Tavares, among others. These are young students from the Porto School of Fine Arts, who held a series of Independent exhibitions, thus expressing a desire for cultural decentralization, in addition to the initiatives of greater visibility and impact that took place almost exclusively in the capital.

n 1943, this group of students from the Porto School decided to unite against the large exhibition centers that were almost exclusively held in the capital. With the name of Independente, the first exhibition takes place at the premises of the Porto School of Fine Arts, with the almost exclusive presence of students.

Fernando Lanhas presents, in the Independents, his first abstract experiences, even suggesting to his colleagues the experimentation of the vast field of abstraction. At the same time that Lanhas shows his abstract paintings, Arlindo Rocha, who at the time signed as Arlindo Gonçalves, presents his first abstracting experiences in the field of sculpture.

The group expands early, opening doors to teachers or artists who demonstrate a willingness to pursue this desire for cultural decentralization through various initiatives in which the refusal to affiliate a style is evident.

The Independent Exhibitions assume fair value, as they constitute a first collective action at the time, even though not structured under a defined vanguard, inaugurates an innovative dialogue in the field of Portuguese art, providing favorable conditions for the emergence and development of the abstracting trend.

Ana Luisa Oliveira

MASTER IN PUBLIC SCULPTURE

Sculpture in Portugal in the first half of the XX century


The beginning of the XX century in Portugal was marked by an unstable period due to the successive fall and possession of governments during the First Republic (1910-1926). Portuguese society was far from obtaining the necessary conditions for cultural and ideological development, advancing, at a fast pace, to a rhythm that felt between Portuguese art and art realized outside the country.

The academies remained closed, maintaining the same teaching regime, valuing and continuing the classic system, where the concrete representation of the real, obtained through a copy process, is the greatest concern of the artists. The raw materials of choice remain the most traditional. In painting, the oil; In sculpture, clay is the favorite material for modeling, later passed on to a definitive material. Meanwhile, outside the new materials and technologies arouse the plastic interest of artists, contributing to the emergence of new technologies and artistic typologies, such as the introduction of iron, aluminum, stainless steel, resins and ceramics or wood agglomerates, to which followed the new avant-garde that asserted themselves against the academic tradition.

However, and partly due to experiences lived outside the national territory, we see small groups that started a modernist search with works that renounce the traditional Aristotelian aesthetics, based on mimesis, showing in their works a very personal language, a representation of the world based on a vision of its own, asserting itself as a search for a possibly truer reality that the artist would find within himself and not in the ordinary world. Contributing to a first reflection, around the art of a more expressionist and abstract nature, the works of Santa Rita Pintor and Amadeu de Souza-Cardoso, which was joined, at a later stage, by a group of students from the Porto School, where they stand out. names like Fernando Lanhas, Nadir Afonso, Manuel Pereira da Silva and Arlindo Rocha. A renewed aesthetic and literary thought began in these small organized groups, ventured into provocative strategies in the face of conservative political and cultural practices, and in a way reactionary to modernity. Orpheu magazine, published in 1915, sought to assert a great influence on modernity, and its "avant-garde" inspired inspiring literary movements, which soon aroused the worst criticism, since they proposed a cosmopolitan art in time and space, a truly art. that would bring with it the renewal of literature and the arts in Portugal. In Presença magazine (1927-1940), we witnessed a continuity of the line of thought and intervention begun with Orpheu magazine. These magazines become a source of dissemination of new aesthetic thoughts of Portuguese authors, as well as some essays by European writers. To these editions were also added exhibitions and conferences organized to show new cultural options, almost always through private initiatives. This new cultural awakening that seemed to closely follow international artistic thinking does not get much attention from the public, since the level of literacy is very low and in urban environments intellectual innovations do not take the place of the conservatism that then took place. made me feel. Portuguese society at the time was poorly culturally enlightened, remaining closed to the tastes of the old order, reinforcing the chronological and ideological mismatch between the avant-garde and the Portuguese artists. The lack of free circulation of books and information ultimately results in a lack of full awareness of the art practiced abroad.

The Estado Novo (1933-1974) became a hope against the political and economic mismanagement of Portugal due to the First Republic; To this end, the state reinforces the ideological values ​​of God, Fatherland and Family; authority, discipline and order; corporatism and Catholicism. The fine arts become the most convenient and favorable vehicle of ideological propaganda, the country being "adorned" from north to south with small and large public works resulting in rigid buildings, lined with sculpture, painting and tapestry.

This period was associated with a nationalist art, leaving a balanced and functional mark between art and power, as demonstrated by the Portuguese World Exposition in 1940. This initiative reached dimensions never before seen, having as its mission to move to the act, in the form of commemoration, public consecration and the representative legitimacy of the state at ideological and historical level. It was up to the artists to clearly convey to the public these values, also making known the mythical Portuguese characters, extolling the grandeur of the past, which was revised in the present, hoping to achieve the same impact on the future of Portugal.

The State defines an art associated with the classical system, since it would be the best way to dialogue with the Portuguese of any social class; The artist should also punctuate the work of art with small constructive notes, subtly leading it along paths that, moving towards the synthesis of the figures, later bring it closer to abstraction. As formal synthesis is part of one's personal interpretation, the pursuit of the individualization of the artist and the pursuit of the autonomy of art become increasingly conscious. An avant-garde desire for rupture that seeks in common and personal nature a reinterpretation of the world, mirrored in the work of art without direct reference to the laws of beauty of concrete reality, is once again visible.

Portugal thus reaches a period, as far as possible, stable, where the power of the Estado Novo will be able to restore values, already lost, within Portuguese society, which, together with the action of national propaganda, through the support of the arts, ends up to shape society, making possible the cultural and ideological openness that was in great time lag with Europe. If in the opinion of some authors, the Estado Novo gives rise to social crises due to censorship and the imposition of official styles that cause some delay in the cultural development of the country, others see this period as golden, in the sense that, in the cultural context and, in For the most part, due to the work of Antonio Ferro, the government becomes an organized structure, almost as a propaganda machine for national heroic values, thus allowing the development of fine arts, regularly subsidized in an exorbitant manner. The power of the Estado Novo is transmitted to the population through its majestic work, thus making the country gain from curious examples of state-novice architecture and, in addition, the arts at the service of the state, such as sculpture, painting. , tapestry among others.

The importance and decisive action of the artistic vanguards and the necessity of their moments of rupture are therefore to value: «[the] social function of the artist in perfecting or inventing what he came to call" languages ​​"creates conditions of awareness »of the political and social context of the time in which he lived.

In the artistic realm, the 'restrained and quiet revolution' emerged more grounded around 1945. Neorealism, Surrealism and Abstractionism are practiced in a very contained manner, accompanied by violent polemics until the mid-1950s. However, this will not be an impediment to the realization. Independent Exhibitions, or for the inauguration of the first abstract sculpture acquired by the State for a public space. Modern artists explore these new plastic languages, opposed to classical language, in the midst of a struggle for ethical and aesthetic values, before a society that, as we have seen, was not prepared to accompany them.

In this same period, there is one of the great moments of Portuguese cultural history of modern times. The rediscovery of Fernando Pessoa's work, hitherto unknown to most citizens. This author's work soon turned out to be of great interest to the national arts, allowing for the return of the lost rhythm at the beginning of the century of the first modernist manifestations, also exalted with the rediscovery of the works of Santa Rita and Amadeu, which, as we have seen, marked the first generation of modernity, which will remain a reference until the mid-1940s, as we shall see.

Ana Luisa Oliveira
MASTER IN PUBLIC SCULPTURE

Monday, August 05, 2019

When sculpture sought to be only sculpture


Arlindo Rocha Sculptures
When sculpture sought to be only sculpture
Ana Luísa Oliveira
MASTER IN PUBLIC SCULPTURE
Dissertation oriented by Professor Doctor José Carlos Pereira
2011
LISBON UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF FINE ART

Arlindo Gonçalves da Rocha, sculptor born in Oporto, was in conjunction with Fernando Fernandes and Manuel Pereira da Silva, one of the pioneers of abstract sculpture in Portugal. A study trip to Oporto in 2008 was the starting point of the research on the work of Arlindo Rocha, which proved to be a great artistic estate in rich and diverse materials and styles. His work raised some initial issues, in particular by the presence of two distinct artistic languages, one founded on neo-figurative values and another, more solid and innovative for its time, pioneer of a neoplastic language, in the register of Portuguese sculpture. For a better understanding of this issue, this dissertation starts an attempt to understand the time in which the sculptor lived. By knowing more about his time we can understand the reason why his first experiences of an abstractive art emerged timidly, which was intended to be modern and abstract, but remained neo-figurative. As such, this work will also look into the analysis of some sculptures by Arlindo Rocha, where we recognize a pioneer landmark, especially in the exploration of new artistic languages, which help us in understanding the overall work of this sculptor.