The Greyhounds, one of the first paintings exhibited by Amadeo, was shown at the 27th Salon des Indépendants in Paris (1911),* a year marked by the start of an intensive bout of painting in which Amadeo produced formally identical compositions, mainly devoted to the theme of hunting, in which he consolidated his personal mythology and sought to establish his identity as an artist. These pieces are defined by the graphic simplicity both of the drawing, which was developed in close collaboration with his friend Modigliani**, and of the stylised, elongated figures, which he transposed to invented exotic settings. In these works he explored the material exuberance of painting, vigorously applying smooth yet bright, vibrant and highly contrasting fields of colour, exalting the decorative nature of the whole in a manner reminiscent of symbolism or art nouveau. The thematic and stylistic cohesion gives rise to several parallels, such as that seen in Saut du Lapin (Art Institute of Chicago), in which the rabbit is copied from the pair depicted in The Greyhounds (all of these rabbits are decorated in a pattern taken from Japanese prints, in vogue at the time). A further parallel can be found in a drawing in XX Dessins which shows the same rabbits being chased by one white greyhound and another black one.

Against the mountains in the background and the rising sun, which announces the start of a morning of hunting, two expectant greyhounds, one white and one black, are seen in profile, overlapping everything, while two rabbits, suspended in mid-jump, flee from the dominant predators watching in the foreground, anticipating the action and ready to pounce. By suggesting multiple time schemes, Amadeo employs a futurist solution, creating a unique tension in his hunting scenes, in which no animal is usually stationary. Two preparatory drawings corresponding to this work are known to exist: one showing the greyhounds in profile and another consisting of this composition in a horizontal format that already contains the rhythm created by the duplication of each of the animals and forms. Opting for a vertical arrangement of the scene, Amadeo explores pictorial means by which to condense the narrative, creating an unusual framing that brings us so close to the action that part of the greyhounds’ bodies are cut off (as if, in the position of hunters, they are also looking at the painting from the outside, studying their prey, while the rabbits seem to be poised to jump beyond its boundaries). The scale is also manipulated, with the lines that define the various planes being distorted or arched, like the sun in the background, placing the setting itself in motion.

Recent studies have revealed the presence of two paintings under the final layer of The Greyhounds, one of a woman and another of a pastoral scene with horses.***

Afonso Ramos

July 2013

* The exhibition was marked by the cubist scandal. In Room 16, where, in Apollinaire's words, ‘se trouvent les envois de Cardoso’, the Portuguese painter exhibited six of his works.

** According to Diogo de Macedo, Modigliani became excited when he saw these paintings of Amadeo’s at the Salon, exclaiming: “Voilà! Voilà! C’est presque bien… Il ne lui manque plus qu’un peu de courage pour emmerder ces barbouilleurs!” (14, cité Falguière, Lisboa: Seara Nova, 1930)

*** The results of these studies gave rise to an exhibition at the CAM in 2004: Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso's Greyhounds: Examining the History of a Painting.