Artworks
Música Surda [Muted Music]
painting
Date
c. 1914 - 1915
Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
100 x 100 cm
The work - Música Surda
by Portuguese painter Amadeo Souza-Cardoso dates from around 1914-1915, a period when he travelled from Paris to spend holidays in Portugal, and was surprised by the beginning of the 1st World War, which forced him to stay in Manhufe, Amarante. During this time, the contact with Sónia and Robert Delaunay, Eduardo Viana and Almada Negreiros, proved fruitful and stimulating in the affirmation of an artistic modernity.
In this work, one of the largest and one of the few in square format, within the vast production in a short time lapse by Amadeo, a modernity is emphasised that crosses various references from the European vanguards, with which he kept a distant relationship, committed that he was to the affirmation of an autonomous vanguardism.
The chromatic dynamic and the bold stroke manifest the impressionist influx, in the expansive spots that explore different shades of exuberant and vibrant colours, introducing a surprising movement in the space and a light/dark treatment that gives a singular luminosity to the work. Over the abstract background, the artist emphasises the human figuration in close-up, giving it a protagonism that expands to the limits of the work, and the treatment of the face and of the object that accompanies the figure shows a cubist reminiscence. The figure of the static man, holding a violin placed on his shoulder, in the playing position, with the other hand hanging, where neither the violin has strings nor the other hand has the bow that lets the sound be extracted from the instrument, illustrate the title of the work. Enigmatic and paradoxical, the title comes close to the Dadaistic non-sense and the sensorial tension promoted by futurism. The evocation of music in conflict with the allusion to the deprival of the sense of hearing, inscribes in the work a suggestive euphony immersed in a strong dimension of interiority.
The theme of music and the violin as iconic element are ever present in the work of the artist, and the same is true for humour and provocation, that can be seen in many of the titles given by Amadeo to his works.
- Música Surda
was shown in the artist's first solo exhibitions in 1916, in Lisbon and Oporto, and was part of several other exhibitions, namely the retrospective and anthological shows commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of his death and the centennial anniversary of his birth, and accumulated relevant historic, exhibition and bibliographic career.
by Portuguese painter Amadeo Souza-Cardoso dates from around 1914-1915, a period when he travelled from Paris to spend holidays in Portugal, and was surprised by the beginning of the 1st World War, which forced him to stay in Manhufe, Amarante. During this time, the contact with Sónia and Robert Delaunay, Eduardo Viana and Almada Negreiros, proved fruitful and stimulating in the affirmation of an artistic modernity.
In this work, one of the largest and one of the few in square format, within the vast production in a short time lapse by Amadeo, a modernity is emphasised that crosses various references from the European vanguards, with which he kept a distant relationship, committed that he was to the affirmation of an autonomous vanguardism.
The chromatic dynamic and the bold stroke manifest the impressionist influx, in the expansive spots that explore different shades of exuberant and vibrant colours, introducing a surprising movement in the space and a light/dark treatment that gives a singular luminosity to the work. Over the abstract background, the artist emphasises the human figuration in close-up, giving it a protagonism that expands to the limits of the work, and the treatment of the face and of the object that accompanies the figure shows a cubist reminiscence. The figure of the static man, holding a violin placed on his shoulder, in the playing position, with the other hand hanging, where neither the violin has strings nor the other hand has the bow that lets the sound be extracted from the instrument, illustrate the title of the work. Enigmatic and paradoxical, the title comes close to the Dadaistic non-sense and the sensorial tension promoted by futurism. The evocation of music in conflict with the allusion to the deprival of the sense of hearing, inscribes in the work a suggestive euphony immersed in a strong dimension of interiority.
The theme of music and the violin as iconic element are ever present in the work of the artist, and the same is true for humour and provocation, that can be seen in many of the titles given by Amadeo to his works.
- Música Surda
was shown in the artist's first solo exhibitions in 1916, in Lisbon and Oporto, and was part of several other exhibitions, namely the retrospective and anthological shows commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of his death and the centennial anniversary of his birth, and accumulated relevant historic, exhibition and bibliographic career.
