- 1916
- Oil on canvas
- Inv. 77P18
Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso
Canção popular – a Russa e o Figaro / Folk Song [The Russian and the Figaro]
Throughout practically his entire career, Amadeo explored references to the traditions and popular art of Portugal. During the First World War, when he was forced to return to his native country, it was already evident that he had distanced himself from the abstract trends that had dominated Parisian art immediately beforehand. In 1916, Amadeo staged two solo exhibitions – the first in Porto and the second in Lisbon – which he called Abstractionism. Despite choosing this title, the pictures that he produced in those years are replete with legible signs.
Popular Song – the Russian Woman and Le Figaro (1916) is one of the works that demonstrates this tendency, offering a fragmented, brightly coloured composition in which representation is explored via a non-illusionist mode. The figurative elements that float within the painting – the colourful crockery and pots, the windows and houses, the doll – have no descriptive vocation and do not point to just one reference. On the contrary, these signs expand the work’s signifying potential in terms that destabilize and enrich our interpretation by adding new possible ways of reading the work. The colourful crockery and pots, for example, refer not only to the artisanal objects that they denote but could also be seen as a reference to Sonia Delaunay’s fascination with markets and popular Portuguese art. This hypothesis is strengthened by the doll in the centre of the composition: besides alluding to the small rag doll that the painter owned and also depicted in other paintings (such as Popular Song and Bird of Brazil, 1916; coll. Museu de Amarante), this feature is open to a multiplicity of other possible meanings. In other words, it can be read as representing the ‘Russian woman’, in this case Sonia Delaunay, who was a native of Ukraine.
The meeting staged in Popular Song – Russian Woman and Le Figaro between the signs of a popular regional culture and cultivated international references, such as the allusion to the French newspaper Le Figaro (the newspaper which was read every day in the Delaunay’s house in Vila do Conde, offering a window onto the world beyond their local area[1]), evokes once again the need to overcome the logical dichotomies between these two, ultimately interdependent, worlds.
Joana Cunha Leal
July 2013
[1] Cf. Ferreira, P., Correspondance de quatre artistes portugais: Almada-Negreiros, José Pacheco, Souza-Cardoso, Eduardo Vianna avec Robert et Sonia Delaunay, Paris: FCG / CCP / PUF: 1972, p. 45.
Type | Value | Unit | Section |
Width | 60 | cm | |
Height | 80 | cm |
Type | signed |
Text | «amadeo / de souza / c ardoso» |
Position | bottom left-hand corner |
Type | Donation |
Date | 11-11-1977 |
Exposição de Pintura (Abstracionismo): amadeo de souza- cardoso/ Painting Exhibition (Abstractionism): amadeo de souza-cardoso |
Porto, [s.n.], 1916 |
Catalogue |
Exposição de Pintura: amadeo de souza-cardoso/ Painting Exhibition: amadeo de souza-cardoso |
Lisbon, [s.n.], 1916 |
Catalogue |
amadeo de souza-cardoso |
Paris, Casa de Portugal, 1958 |
Catalogue |
amadeo de souza-cardoso |
Lisbon, SNI, 1959 |
Catalogue |
20 pintores portugueses del Centro de Arte Moderno, Fundación Calouste Gulbenkian/ 20 portuguese painters of the Modern Art Centre, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation |
Lisbon, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Centro de Arte Moderna, 1984 |
Catalogue |
Roteiro do Centro de Arte Moderna/ Guide of the Modern Art Centren |
Lisbon, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Centro de Arte Moderna, 1985 |
Guide |
Il Portogallo a Milano |
Milan, Electa, 1985 |
Catalogue |
Arte Contemporáneo Portugués/ Contemporary Portuguese Art |
Lisbon, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Centro de Arte Moderna, 1987 |
Exhibition Catalogue |
Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, 1887-1918 |
Brussels, Europália, 1991 |
Catalogue |
Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, 1887-1918 |
Porto, Fundação de Serralves, 1992 |
Catalogue |
Oito décadas de pintura portuguesa: colecção da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian/ Eight decades of portuguese painting: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Collection |
Lisbon, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Centro de Arte Moderna, 1993 |
Catalogue |
O que há de português na arte moderna portuguesa/ What is portuguese about portuguese modern art |
Lisbon, Instituto da Comunicação Social, 1998 |
Catalogue |
1887-1987 centenário do nascimento de amadeo de souza- cardoso/ 1887-1987 birth centenary of amadeo de souza-cardoso |
Lisbon, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1987 |
Catalogue |
Antevisão do Centro de Arte Moderna/ Antivision of the Modern Art Centre |
Lisbon, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1981 |
Catalogue |
Un Art sans frontières: L'internacionalisation des Arts en Europe, 1900-1950/ An Art without frontiers: The internationalisation of the Arts in Europe, 1900-1950 |
Paris, Sorbonne, 1994 |
Monograph |
História da arte em Portugal: Pioneiros da modernidade. Vol. 12/ The History of Art in Portugal: Pioneers of modernity. Vol. 12 |
Lisbon, Alfa, 1988 |
Monograph |
História da Arte Portuguesa: Do Barroco à Contemporaneidade. Vol. III/ The History of Portuguese Art: From Baroque to Contemporary. Vol. III |
Lisbon, Círculo de Leitores, 1995 |
Monograph |
Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso: o português à força & Almada Negreiros: o português sem mestre/ Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso: the forceful portuguese & Almada Negreiros: the portuguese without a master |
Venda Nova, Bertrand, 1986 |
Monograph |
Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso: diálogo de vanguardas/Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso: avant-garde dialogues |
Lisbon, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão, Assírio & Alvim, 2006 |
Catalogue |
Robert y Sonia Delaunay/ Robert and Sonia Delaunay |
Barcelona : Carroggio, Institut de Cultura : Museu Picasso, 2000 |
Monograph |
Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso (1887-1918): Ein pionier aus Portugal/ Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso (1887-1918): A pioneer from Portugal |
Hamburg, Ernst Barlach Haus, 2007 |
Catalogue |
Antevisão do Centro de Arte Moderna/ Antivision of the Modern Art Centre |
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation |
Curator: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation |
July 1981 to September 1981 |
Arte Contemporáneo Portugués/ Contemporary Portuguese Art |
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation |
Curator: CAM/FCG |
February 1987 to March 1987 Madrid, Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art |
Exhibition organized by CAM and by the ministries of "Foreign Affairs" and of Spanish Culture. |
20 pintores portugueses del Centro de Arte Moderno, Fundación Calouste Gulbenkian/ 20 portuguese painters of the Modern Art Centre, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation |
4 to 23 June 1984 Cultural Centre Caja de Ahorros de Vigo |
amadeo de souza-cardoso |
Paulo Ferreira |
23 January to 18 March 1958 Casa de Portugal |
19 May to 31 May 1956 Dominguez Alvarez Gallery |
Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, 1887-1918 |
27 September to 8 December 1991 Museum of Modern Art |
5 March to 19 April 1992 Serralves Foundation |
Event integrated in Europália 91. |
Il Portugallo a Milano |
7 March to 21 April 1985 Palazzo Reale, Royal Palace |
amadeo de souza-cardoso |
Paulo Ferreira |
May 1959 National Information Secretariat - Foz Palace, Lisbon |
June 1959 National Museum Soares dos Reis, Porto |
Exposição de Pintura: amadeo de souza-cardoso/ Painting Exhibition: amadeo de souza-cardoso |
4 December to 12 December 1916 Lisbon Naval League, Calhariz Palace |
Exposição de Pintura (Abstracionismo): amadeo de souza- cardoso/ Painting Exhibition (Abstractionism): amadeo de souza-cardoso |
1 November to 12 November 1916 Ballroom of the Passos Manoel Garden |
Oito décadas de pintura portuguesa: colecção da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian/ Eight decades of portuguese painting: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Collection |
2 to 25 June 1993 Guiness Hop Store |
July 1993 Museum of Art of Bahia |
O que há de português na arte moderna portuguesa/ What is portuguese about portuguese modern art |
June to September 1998 Institute of Social Communication, Foz Palace |
1887-1987 centenário do nascimento de amadeo de souza- cardoso/ 1887-1987 birth centenary of amadeo de souza-cardoso |
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation |
Curator: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation |
20 July 1987 to 31 October 1987 Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation |
Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso (1887-1918): Ein pionier aus Portugal/ Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso (1887-1918): A pioneer from Portugal |
2 December 2007 to 30 March 2008 Ernst Barlach Haus |