An exhibition that highlights the relationship of complicity between Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso and the artist couple Sonia It is Robert Delaunay is inaugurated today at the Center Pompidou, in Paris, announced the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
Curated by Helena de Freitas, from the Gulbenkian Modern Art Center, in Lisbon, and Angela Lampe and Sophie Goetzmann, from the Pompidou Center, the exhibition brings together 30 works by the three artists, from the collections of the two institutions.
The connection between the artist belonging to the first generation of Portuguese modernist painters and the couple Sonia and Robert Delaunay, three outstanding figures of European modernity, is the central theme of the exhibition that will run until September 9th, in Paris.
"The fruitful relationship between the artists began in 1912, when Sonia and Robert Delaunay were surprised at their home, in Paris, by young Amadeo, who knocked on their door, introducing himself: 'I am the Portuguese painter Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso'. This meeting marked the beginning of a long relationship of artistic complicity, which expanded over time and geography", recalled Gulbenkian, in a statement.
The ties between Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso (1887-1918) and the Delaunays grew stronger between 1915 and 1917 when the couple, refugees from the Great War, settled in Portugal, in Vila do Conde, at a time when Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso he was involved in the so-called Portuguese Futurist Group.
"Many projects were born from this geographic convergence around plastic experiences that, in different ways, deepened the simultaneist movement, developed by the Delaunay couple with the aim of launching traveling exhibitions in Europe (´expositions mouvantes´). These were the first artistic actions of resistance to the centrality of Paris, and testing other ways of making and circulating plastic experiences around light and color, in the context of the disruptive avant-gardes of the early 20th century", contextualized Gulbenkian.
The Pompidou Center includes works by Sonia and Robert Delaunay which result from a donation from Sonia and her son Charles, in 1964, and also owns a painting of Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, titled "Knights", from 1913, which will be on display in this exhibition.
In addition to this work, the Center Pompidou will showcase 11 paintings by Sonia and Robert Delaunay of its collection, while the Center for Modern Art sent 17 works by Amadeo and one by Robert Delaunay.
The catalog that accompanies the exhibition includes a reproduction of the correspondence exchanged between the artists, translated into Portuguese for the first time, adding that the tone of the correspondence "is related to the contingencies of war and some disagreements brought about by chance, but also to the absolute Amadeo's resistance in accepting a group and school spirit".
The catalog also analyzes the triangular relationship, through a conversation between curators Helena de Freitas and Angela Lampe about the strategic meaning and opportunity of this exhibition format, an essay by curator Ana Vasconcelos, who returns to this topic after the exhibition " The Delaunay Circle", at the Center for Modern Art, in 2015.