Full Description
The artist Paula Rego was born in Portugal but has lived in Britain since 1951. In this well-illustrated book, Maria Manuel Lisboa explores the background behind Rego's decision to leave the land of her birth and, in doing so, provides fascinating insights into Rego's persistent portrayal of uneasy and predatory relations between men and women. Looking back over the national, religious and sexual politics of Portugal during Rego's childhood under the shadow of the Salazar dictatorship and subsequently, Lisboa locates the origins of the artist's preoccupation with power and powerlessness, violence and abuse within the political and ideological status quo of Portugal, past and present. Lisboa's clear and thoughtful analysis offers an ambitious contribution to the study of patriarchy, Catholicism and Fascism and their expression in the work of this artist.
Contents
Contentsforetold: nation, self and other from the 1960s to the 1980s; (He)art history or a death in the family: the late 1980s; The sins of the fathers: mother and land revisited in the 1990s; An interesting condition: the abortion pastels; Conclusion: Artist and model: let me count the ways I love you; Bibliography; Indexes.
