Celebration of the centenary of Júlio Pomar’s birth: ‘A cola não faz a colagem’
Last May, the Atelier-Museu Júlio Pomar opened the exhibition ‘A cola não faz a colagem’, as part of the celebrations marking the centenary of the birth of Júlio Pomar (1926–2018). The exhibition is the result of the curatorial work Sara Antónia Matos, Pedro Faro, and Constança Pupo Cardoso.
The exhibition’s title derives from the fact that Pomar used a phrase by the German artist Max Ernst in one of his texts, ‘L’Écrit’, from 1981; it thus seeks to explain the idea that collage is not merely an act of overlapping. In reality, it transcends this dimension and should be understood as something conceptual and abstract.
In an interview, curator Sara Antónia Matos suggests that these ‘ideas of combining, crossing or juxtaposing […] offer us new opportunities to experience life’ and are the result of freedom of expression and methodology, through an innovative and unexpected approach.
Of the approximately fifty works on display, CAM has loaned three pieces from its collection: the painting ‘Le Bain Turc, d’après Ingres’ (1971), the assemblage ‘L’Enseigne aux Grelots’ (1977) and the collage ‘Le Luxe’ (1979). The works on display reflect Júlio Pomar’s wide-ranging artistic practice, from his neo-realist period right through to the end of his life. Several of Júlio Pomar’s works had never been exhibited before and can now be viewed until 6 September in Lisbon.
