Helena Almeida Explained

Helena Almeida (11 April 1934 – 25 September 2018)^[1] was a Portuguese artist known for her work in photography, performance art, body art, painting and drawing.

She represented Portugal at the Venice Biennale in 1982 and 2005 and had a solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2017.

Early life

Almeida was born in Lisbon in 1934. She was the daughter of the sculptor Leopoldo de Almeida (1898–1975). In 1955, Almeida completed the painting course at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts. She married architect Artur Rosa. Their daughter Joana Rosa became an artist.^[2] After spending some years raising her family, in 1964 she obtained a scholarship and moved to Paris.^[3]

Works

Almeida exhibited for the first time in 1967.^[4] At this exhibit she pioneered the use of three-dimensional elements in her work, a theme she would come back to often in her later pieces. She wanted her work to escape the canvas and intrigue the viewer.^[5]

Starting in 1969, Almeida defined a new aspect of her work, the desire for self-representation, in an exhibit which became the basis of her future work.^[4] She exhibited a black and white photograph of herself wearing a canvas, arms spread and looking down – as in Christ carrying the cross. This photograph asserted her belief in "identifying herself with the being of her work." This became an ongoing theme in her work: there is no difference between the work and artist's body. In her work, a woman's image is always present, but the image is transformed in a painting or drawing. Almeida avoided creating self-portraits. Rather, "My work is my body, my body is my work." "I am the canvas."^[6] Her work has been described as "halfway between a performance (capturing an instant), and body art (the body itself as the absolute protagonist).^[7]

In the early 70's Almeida returned to three dimensional sketching, with drawings that use horsehair threads and appear to jump off the page. She referred to this work as "painting outwards."^[4]

In 1975, Almeida brought together three disciplines, photography, painting and drawing. The drawing was represented by the horsehair threads; painting in three colors – blue or red sometimes black; photography serves as a meta-narrative. The broad range of her work and experimentation includes "design to cinema, from paintings to comics, from photography to sculpture, from architecture to performance."^[8] Almeida's work is shown in the Tate Modern in London, the Museum of Art in New York, the Museu d'art Contemporary de Barcelona, and also in her home town in Lisbon.^[9]

Death

Almeida died at her home in Sintra, Lisbon on 25 September 2018 at the age of 84.^{[10] [11] [12]}

Exhibitions

• Galeria Buchholz, Lisbon (1967)^[13]
• Venice Biennial (1982)^[12]
• Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela (2000)^[14]
• Sydney Biennial (2004)^[15]
• The Drawing Centre, New York (2004)^[14]
• Venice Biennial (2005)^[12]
• Fundación Telefónica, Madrid (2009)^[14]
• Helena Almeida: Inside Me, Kettles Yard, Cambridge, UK (2009)^[16]
• Helena Almeida: My Work is My Body, My Body is My Work, Serralves Museum, Porto, Portugal (2015/2016)^[17]
• Work Is Never Finished, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (2017).^{[12] [18]}
• Helena Almeida, Inhabited Canvas, Tate Modern, London, 2018^{[19] [20]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: In Memoriam 2018. photographydatabase.org.
2. Web site: Arte y tecnología. Colección Fotografía contemporánea. Helena almeida . 14 February 2010 . June 2003 . www.fundacion.telefonica.com . Spanish . 31 March 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140331052712/http://www.fundacion.telefonica.com/arteytecnologia/colecciones_de_arte/fotografia/almeida.htm . dead .
3. News: Johnson . Sam . How Helena Almeida's Body Became Her Artwork . 27 September 2018 . An Other Magazine.
4. Book: Helen Almeida. 19 March 2001. Xunta de Galicia. Portugal. 84-453-26686. 181.
5. News: Barrio . Javier Martín del . Muere la artista portuguesa Helena Almeida, que hizo lienzo de su cuerpo . 27 September 2018 . El País . 26 September 2018 . es.
6. Xunta, Helen Almeida. p. 180
7. News: Helena Almeida: la obra es ella. EL PAÍS, Edición impresa. Spanish. 31 March 2014.
8. Xunta, Helen Almeida. p. 182
9. Web site: Helena Almeida artnet. www.artnet.com. 24 April 2017.
10. News: Luísa Soares de. Oliveira. 27 September 2018. Helena Almeida, a artista que era a sua própria obra. Público.
11. News: Morreu a artista Helena Almeida, uma das mais reconhecidas do século XX . 27 September 2018 . Observador . pt-PT.
12. News: Neil. Genzlinger. 2019-04-27. Helena Almeida, Experimental Portuguese Artist, Dies at 84. The New York Times. 11 October 2018. 0362-4331. NYTimes.com.
13. Coelho. Maria Luísa. 2017. Woman-Body-Paint: Helena Almeida and the Visual Inscription of Sexual Difference. Luso-Brazilian Review. University of Wisconsin Press. 54. 1. 55–77. Project MUSE. 10.3368/lbr.54.1.55. 148631412 .
14. Web site: Helena Almeida: My work is my body, my body is my work . Serralves Foundation . en-EN.
15. Web site: 2019-04-27. Art Gallery of New South Wales - Archive: Biennale of Sydney 2004. archive.artgallery.nsw.gov.au.
16. Web site: 2019-04-27. Helena Almeida: Inside Me – Events. Kettle's Yard.
17. Web site: Seara.com. 2019-04-27. Fundação de Serralves. Serralves.
18. Web site: 2019-04-27. Helena Almeida: Work is never finished. The Art Institute of Chicago.
19. Web site: Tate. 27 September 2018. Helena Almeida: until 4 November 2018 – Display at Tate Modern. Tate.
20. Web site: 2019-04-27. A Life On Canvas: Helena Almeida, 1934–2018. The Quietus.