Sarah Affonso and Folk Art from the Minho

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This exhibition focuses on the relationship between the work of Sarah Affonso and the popular art of the Minho region. Often remembered as the wife of Almada Negreiros, Sarah Affonso was a modernist artist in her own right, with a remarkable career.

The Gulbenkian Museum is celebrating the 120th anniversary of the birth of Sarah Affonso (1899-1983), a Portuguese modernist painter whose work has not been widely researched or exhibited to date. Very often remembered as the wife of renowned Portuguese artist Almada Negreiros, she was an artist in her own right, with a remarkable career, which is revisited in this exhibition.

This exhibition examines Sarah Affonso’s singular relationship with the popular art and culture of the Minho, a region in the North of Portugal where she lived during her childhood and adolescence, between 1904 and 1915.

The region’s distinctive features – its traditions, fairs, processions and pilgrimages – lived on in the artist’s memory, and would come to feature prominently in her work from 1932 to 1933.

During this period, Affonso departed from her customary portraits in order to incorporate specific aspects of the Minho vernacular in her compositions.

The exhibition displays the artist’s work alongside examples of the ceramics, textiles, and silverwork that make up part of the visual lexicon that inspired her, some on loan from Portuguese museums and collectors.

The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum marks this anniversary together with the National Museum of Contemporary Art – Museu do Chiado, which will also dedicate an exhibition to the artist, opening in September.

Curator: Ana Vasconcelos


VIDEOS


VIEW OF THE EXHIBITION

Vista da exposição «Sarah Affonso e a Arte Popular do Minho», 2019. Foto: Catarina Gomes Ferreira
Vista da exposição «Sarah Affonso e a Arte Popular do Minho», 2019. Foto: Catarina Gomes Ferreira
Vista da exposição «Sarah Affonso e a Arte Popular do Minho», 2019. Foto: Catarina Gomes Ferreira
Vista da exposição «Sarah Affonso e a Arte Popular do Minho», 2019. Foto: Catarina Gomes Ferreira
Vista da exposição «Sarah Affonso e a Arte Popular do Minho», 2019. Foto: Catarina Gomes Ferreira
Vista da exposição «Sarah Affonso e a Arte Popular do Minho», 2019. Foto: Catarina Gomes Ferreira

A exposição da Gulbenkian aposta nas raízes populares da artista (…), com uma escolha exemplar de figurado de Barcelos, de rocas, fusos, marcas, espadelas e cangas de gado lavradas e gravadas, não esquecendo também a filigrana e o bordado.

– Expresso

Topics

Portraits

‘Green’ paintings


Complementary Programs

Talk with the curator Ana Vasconcelos and guests
Friday, 12 July, 17:00
Saturday, 14 September, 16:00
In Portuguese only

Talk with the curator Ana Vasconcelos
Saturday, 5 October, 15:00
In Portuguese only

Guided tours
Saturdays, 27 July; 21 September, 15:00
In Portuguese only

Guided tours in Portuguese, English or French
Booking
(+351) 217 823 800
[email protected]

More information
[email protected]

Conversations About Sarah Affonso
Tuesday, 24 September, 14:30
Know more

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