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PostWar & Contemporary
3412
MARIA HELENA VIEIRA DA SILVA(Lisbon 1908 - 1992 Paris)
Site printannier. 1952.
Gouache on paper.
Signed lower right: Vieira da Silva.
51 x 65 cm.
Provenance:
- Galerie Jeanne-Bucher, Paris.
- Galerie Alice Pauli, Lausanne (with the
label on the reverse).
- Private collection Switzerland.
Exhibition: Lausanne 1992, Hommage a
Vieira da Silva. Galerie Alice Pauli, Lausanne
(with the label on the reverse).
Literature: Weelen, Guy/Jaegger, Jean-
François: Vieira da Silva. Catalogue raison-
né, Milan 1994, no. 1297 (with ill.).
„Things must be ordered in such a way that
the beholder finds himself before a being
that keeps him company, tells him tales,
brings him security.”(cit. Vieira da Silva, in:
www.fembio.org)
Although Maria Helena Vieira da Silva
was granted French nationality in 1956,
she is regarded as the most prominent
Portuguese artist of the 20th century. Her
poetic works are built upon a labyrinthi-
ne network of lines and delicate colours
made out of nothingness. The influence
of Portuguese mosaics and of the grid-like
structures of megacities in which she
lived shape her pictures, as can be seen in
the present work. Horizontal and vertical
white, blue and green strokes build up a
complex mesh that is continually broken
by the inclusion of the paper into the com-
position, but which never loses its closely
intertwined nature. Although abstract, the
impressive composition of Vieira da Silva
recalls memories of a city, which give us
a birds-eye view, reduced to a system of
horizontal and vertical lines.
Daughter of a diplomat, Maria Helena Viei-
ra da Silva was born in Portugal in 1908, but
travelled much throughout her childhood.
In 1919, she began her studies at the Aca-
demia de belas-artes in Lisbon. In 1928,
she moved to Paris in order to continue
her studies. Cubism, Futurism and Cons-
tructivism, which were the predominant
styles of the time, influenced the works
of the young artist in an enduring man-
ner. She managed however to create and
develop her own poetic style. She fled with
her husband to Brazil when the Second
World War broke out and remained there
until 1947.
Maria Helena Vieira da Silva was honou-
red as a human being, woman and artist
by innumerable exhibitions, prizes and
distinctions that were conferred upon her,
such as the Grand Prix National des Arts in
1966 – which was awarded to a woman for
the first time ever – and her participation in
documenta 1 (1955), documenta II (1959)
and documenta III (1964) in Kassel are
evidence of the international recognition
gained by her oeuvre. Maria Helena Vieira
da Silva died in 1992 in Paris.
CHF 40 000 / 60 000
(€ 37 040 / 55 560)