First published in 2013, by Daniel Lobo, London
Artist’s aknowledgements António Silva would like to thank the artists António
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
Joaquim, Joaquim Pereira, Rodrigo Costa e Joaquim
reproduced in any form without written permission
Durão, the Gaia Municipal Auditorium in particular
from the publisher.
its director Dr. Manuel Filipe Sousa, Mário Dorminsky and the Cultural Center “Casa Barbot”, and Perosinho
Text and design by Daniel Lobo.
Library for their friendship and continuous support of his work. Author’s aknowledgements This booklet is the result of a close personal and working relationship with my uncle, António Silva, established from an early age during the many adventures and conversations we have been able to share, and latelly sustained through regular meetings regarding his latter work. I would like to thank him for the support given and the confidence deposited during the process that led to the publication of this booklet.
(front cover image) AVEIRO’S RIA 2010 Watercolour on paper 28 x 38 cm Private Collection
(introduction image left) DEVESAS, GAIA 2013 Watercolour on paper 28 x 33 cm Private Collection
(introduction image right) PORT CAVES WAREHOUSES AND THE RIVER 2013 Watercolour on paper 21 x 30 cm Private Collection
INTRODUCTION pages 3 and 4
1 2 3 4
EARLY YEARS pages 5 to 8
ART AND ARTISTRY pages 9 to 12
LANDSCAPES pages 13 to 16
NATURE AND HUMAN CREATION pages 17 to 24
BIOGRAPHY pages 25 and 26
INTRODUCTION
António M. Silva is a Portuguese artist with
needed to express his artistic conscience when
an adventurous and romantic sensibility, nota-
fired up by emotional reactions to his subject
ble guitar playing talents and an eclectic range
matter.
of interests, fuelled by an insatiable curiosity
His late tendency to incur into a less tra-
and boundless energy. But most of all, he is a
ditional mode of expression, might establish
landscape watercolour painter, whose most sig-
a parallel with his longing for a reassertion of
nificant work is a celebration of the beauty and
natural values against the proliferation of artifi-
wonder of the relation between man, nature
ciality, and for the preservation of certain rural
and man’s creations.
and urban historic values against the often fast
The subject matter of his painting has mainly
paced, disturbed and alienated life of our days.
evolved within a traditional genre, and within
However, António paints as he does principally
subjects that range from the picturesque coun-
because it is in the nature of his gift to do so in
tryside to the historic city centres in Portugal.
that particular way. He also does not seem inter-
While his style depends largely on his reaction
ested in changing the point of departure or the
to the subject matter, it can be considered to os-
direction and focus of contemporary or mod-
cillate between an evocative realism and an im-
ern art. Although he is a person of many talents
aginative impressionism, or in Horace Shipp’s
and interests, endowed with a quick spirit and a
words, a style that is “traditional yet new”. His
lively mind with an acute sensibility for reading
technique is exciting, free from assurance but
the changing signs of times, his interest in art is
often sure in its stroke, giving its craftsmanship
much more than theoretical pursuit. It is more
what André Gide once called, a “charm of anxi-
often than not a reaction to a heightened sensi-
ety and doubt”.
tivity to the physical world, almost as a primeval
He has a special ability to capture the
awareness of a covenant between man and the
changeable vagaries of climate and the feel-
cosmos, rather than a work of his mind. Part of
ing of light and air with great flair and subtlety,
this is also due to the fact that, apart from a brief
particularly the peculiar freshness of the light to
period of schooling in decorative arts, his intel-
be found in his home region – Douro – where he
lectual endeavours in the study of his art were
mostly paints. However, this ability is also vis-
done entirely on his own. Not only his humble
ible when he is exposed to changes of scenery
social milieu didn’t provide much support or ad-
during his trips to other places along the coun-
vice, but also the misunderstanding and opposi-
try, where he gladly finds himself compelled to
tion to his art by his own parents was so great,
react swiftly to compositional opportunities,
that his painter ‘self could not have survived if
exercising acute powers of observation and
it had not emerged from a deep and inevitable
to paint with unusual speed. This immediacy
compulsion to paint, so much beyond any ra-
of representation has allowed him the artistry
tional intellectual commitment or incentive.
For a long time António restrained his practice of painting to the spare time after a day
As a brief description of his work, this book-
job. But after a long journey, and by drawing
let intends to shed light on his main earlier in-
on such natural source himself, he managed
fluences and on the basic elements of his paint-
from 2005 to invest all of his time and effort on
ing, juxtaposing an appreciation of the subject
what came naturally to him - his painting. Since
matter, the style, methodology and technique
then, although conditioned by a period of deep
of his art with the ulterior motives of the man
economic recession, particularly in his region
himself.
and country, his long and sustained battle has proved as fruitful as never before.
An artist that in so many ways has found guidance and help from painters of the past,
His work has often shown a particular inter-
with social and geographical contexts so differ-
est in the welfare of underprivileged people, but
ent from his own, António’s approach to life and
his difficult upbringing as painter have granted
the quality of his work bears a very interesting
him a special affection for all those that suffer
rapport with the life and work of the ones he has
from inequality of opportunities and resources
been so inspired by. While his talent has been
to develop an artistic career. This affection is as
celebrated and recognized in many of his exhi-
part of his personality as it is of his daily life,
bitions by the small community of appreciators
when teaching painting to children in his stu-
of landscape painting of this genre from the lo-
dio, or when we find him, during his painting
cal cultural scene of Douro region, his most avid
sessions in public spaces, encouraging some
clientele comes from those same contexts from
curious passer-by child to paint, and offering
where his main influences derive – England and
him or her, some sketch he just painted, with
France. In any case, there still seems to be miss-
glittering eyes and a wide smile in his face.
ing an understanding of his body of work as a
Just as the magic of this moments of cele-
whole, and his art still needs to be shared far be-
bration and deeper interaction with the subject
yond the limits of his home region, for the sake
he is depicting, his art seems to celebrate reality
of its much needed nurturing, as much as for
and express love, and it often does it in a lan-
the wider nurturing of his subject matters - the
guage of feeling within, trying to serve a sense
historical legacy of Portuguese rural and urban
of one-ness with the environments he paints.
landscape, in particular Douro, and perhaps
The romance and charm of António’s paintings seem to call our attention for the need
03 04
and joy.
most importantly, the harmonious relation between man and nature.
to stop, to contemplate, to get away from the
It was with this in mind that this booklet was
routine of daily life and from the often frenetic
put together, and with the heartfelt belief to be
lives we lead, in order to cherish the beauty of
announcing to the world one of the best Portu-
the moments, their surprisingly silence, peace
guese landscape artists of our time.
THE COUNTRYSIDE 1979 Oil on paper 13 x 19 cm Collection of the artist
THE SIOUX 1982 Watercolour on paper 11 x 16 cm Collection of the artist
VASE FLOWERS 1982 Watercolour on paper 11 x 16 cm Collection of the artist
1
THE GATE 1982 Oil on paper 24 x 30 cm Collection of the artist
EARLY YEARS António M. Silva (1960) was born and brought up in Arcozelo (Vila Nova de Gaia – Douro Region), a small and tranquil farmers village by the Atlantic in the surroundings of Porto city, where he still lives and works. He discovered his interest for landscape and drawing at around the age of 12, inspired by his weekend family walks around the Douro region and his trips to natural parks such as PenedaGerês and Aire in Fátima. There he would absorb much of what he saw, and then reproduced what he had just seen when returned home, adding up elements from his immagination. His childhood enchantement by the illustrations of Marcel Malier in the series of books for children Martine, and by the many landscape illustrations of the old American Far West by artists such as Jean Marcellin, Arturo Del Castillo and Toni Weare, played an important role in spurring his early admiration for landscape painting, and would influence to a great extent his early paintings. Between 1984 and 1987 he studied at the School of Decorative Arts of Soares dos Reis in Porto, where he learned drawing technics and calligraphy. From then on he started working as a graphic art designer at a lithography known for printing many of the labels of Porto wine brands. He often redrawn by hand these labels, which would influence determinately his handling of drawing and the expression of his earlier paintings.
05 06
THE CUCKOO 1983 Oil on paper 15.5 x 22.5 cm Collection of the artist
POTTED PLANTS 1986 Gouache on paper 20 x 25 cm Collection of the artist
He began painting at the age of 18, starting with gouache and oil, but rapidly moving to watercolour painting. Through self-study he discovered the basics of watercolour and soon became enthralled with the work of many of the French and English painters of the 19th and 20th century, but mainly the work of Claude Monet, William Turner and Edward Seago. At the turn of the century, through the book “Watercolour Impressionists” by Ron Ranson, he became familiar with some of the artists that would be the most influential references of his later work, especially Ted Wesson, Trevor Chamberlain, Rowland Hilder and Edward Seago. Since the early 90’s until 2005, despite being a regular exhibitor in many of the public cultural institutions of Douro region, he has confined his painting to the spare time he managed to gather during the weekends and the evenings after work. Between 2005 and 2009 he managed to dedicate his time entirely to painting and since then he has also given some of his time to teaching painting at his studio, which he finds very rewarding.
RURAL HOUSES 1994 Watercolour on paper 24 x 33 cm Collection of the artist
FARMHOUSE TERREIRINHO 1993 Watercolour on paper 18 X 23 cm Collection of the artist
GRANDPARENTS HOUSE (NORTH) 1990 Watercolour on paper 24 x 32 cm Collection of the artist
GRANDPARENTS HOUSE (SOUTH) 1992 Watercolour on paper 21 x 29 cm Collection of the artist
07 08
CUSTOMS TRAIN, PORTO 2008 Watercolour on paper 18 x 28 cm Private Collection
2
ALTO ALENTEJO 2006 Watercolour on paper 19 x 27 cm Private Collection
ART AND ARTISTRY Watercolour
painting
is
undoubtedly
António’s preferred medium and the one he has been most successful at. Mostly, or almost entirely working en plein aire and in an impressionistic way, he paints driven by the will to capture particular moments of beauty of the world around him. Without much concern for composition or any pretentious conceptualization of the subject, just as a snapshot, a simple record of a fleeting moment, he paints fast and broadly as well as using short, staccato-like brushstrokes, alla prima application to the paper. His instinct for catching and holding these moments have given him the ability to communicate increasingly better the actual matter of fact between him, the object and the subject, either as a close or a distant thing, veiled in atmosphere or fresh and vibrant as the morning, a matter of vibrations or sensations of coloured light roughly shaped and formed, where nothing is particularly clear-cut and solid but often a rather harmonious and wholly vision. Even the most prosaic themes seem to be transformed into captivating compositions, and to heighten our consciousness of the world around us.
09 10
(from top to bottom) D. MARIA PIA BRIDGE; INFANTE BRIDGE DOURO RIVER 2010 Watercolour on paper 33 x 53 cm; 28 x 38 cm Private Collection
António doesn’t search consciously for some form of expression. The object, the subject and the moment dictate the expression of his vision, which he then attempts to convey. As the French poet Jules Laforgue (1860-87) puts it in an essay for the 1883 Berlin exhibition of Pissarro, Degas and Renoir: “Object and subject are… irretrievably in motion, inapprehensible and unaprehensible. In the flashes of identity between subject and object lies the nature of genius.” 1 It is in the ability to capture those flashes, the ones caught by the first real look at the motif, that António’s paintings excel remarkably. Even if we have never put foot in the place depicted, we have solely to allow the freedom conveyed by the expression of the painting to free ourselves from any particularly objective observation, and let our senses flow freely through its subtleties of colour, texture and form in order to somehow submerge into it and experience through the artist’s embodied vision, of the particular time and place portrayed. Therefore it comes with no surprise that he paints the seasons with equal enthusiasm. From the most cold and misty to the most warm and sweet sunny seasons, he often finds in their individual moods a richness of beautifull, varied and unique moments of great inspiration.
1
in A World History of Art, by Hugh Honour and John Fleming, p. 705
RUA DA ROSA, BAIRRO ALTO, LISBOA 2011 Watercolour on paper 22 x 36 cm Collection of the artist
11 12
AUTUMN 2008 Watercolour on paper 28 x 38 cm Private Collection
3
DOURO’S CARREL 2009 Watercolour on paper 16 x 23 cm Private collection
LANDSCAPES António works best in solitude, according to just the impression of what he feels, he alone. And his view of the world has in many ways more affinities with the mood of the early 1900’s than with the frenetic, swiftly changing world of our time. Most of the times, just as an 18th century romantic, António embarks upon his search for beauty in natural environments, where he feels a mystical bonding experience with nature which often inspires him to paint, motivated by its miracles of meteorological phenomena, the sounds of the birds, the freshness of mornings, as if magically enchanted by the world around him. António has a special interest for landscape painting of riverside areas, such as the many wharf areas along Douro River, as the ones of Gaia and Porto, and many other sceneries of river and mountain along Douro Valley, Aveiro and the Tagus in Lisbon. His work as landscape artist and his knowledge of these landscapes, particularly of Douro Valley, represent an important milestone in his contribution to the valorisation and conservation of Portuguese landscape heritage 2, for which he has been acknowledged locally by communities from various cultural and political backgrounds.
13 14
2
Douro wine region was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001
TERRACES OF THE DOURO 2010 Watercolour on paper 18 x 28 cm Collection of the artist
DOWN THE DOURO 2010 Watercolour on paper 18 x 28 cm Private Collection
HARVESTING IN THE DOURO 2009 Watercolour on paper 28 x 38 cm Private Collection
ARRﾃ。IDA BRIDGE 2010 Watercolour on paper 36 x 26 cm Collection of the artist
15 16
THE DAWN, PORTO 2011 Watercolour on paper 18 x 28 cm Collection of the artist
PINHﾃグ RIVER 2009 Watercolour on paper 18 x 28 cm Private Collection
4
ALIADOS AVENUE, PORTO 2008 Watercolour on paper 28 x 38 cm Private Collection
NATURE AND HUMAN CREATION It is also as a romantic that António finds himself searching for inspiration in the built environment of the many villages and cities of Portugal, trying to capture the world that he so dearly loves and attempting to preserve some of the values that he often sees being torn apart. He is profoundly concerned with the increasingly strained relation between man and nature. However daunting it may seem to question the industrialization and Europeanization of Portugal when seen in the light of the atrocities and poverty that Portugal lived during the 41 year dictatorship period, Antonio’s paintings seem to do just that by claiming with a rather clairvoyance some of the fundamental qualities that rule the laws and behaviours of man and are the basis of our existence, in Portugal and elsewhere. And he does it in dialogue with elements no less important themselves - with the sky, the water and the earth, with the light, the air and the wind, with vegetation, man made environments and man himself.
17 18
BARREDO’S STAIRCASE, PORTO 2007 Watercolour on paper 28 x 38 cm Private Collection
He finds those qualities in very simple things within landscapes and urban spaces. In the solid sheltering and vital sensation given by the warmness of the winter sun light reflected on the textured and multi coloured walls of medieval streets, in their buildings that show great complicity with the steep grounds where they sit and with each other, in their tiled facades that show the well needed shelter against the elements of Porto climate, in the little child that seems to climb up willingly those difficult stairs, how strong he must be. In the silent but unsteady silhouette of a Rabelo boat that once used to carry barrels of Porto wine along the Douro river, now floating empty with no use on a dock as an historical artefact or a decomposing carcass of a landscape that it seems to divide, between natural and built, between the past and the present, between the now and the forever. Or in the simple but comforting magical moments of companionship shown by two rod-fisherman fishing in the shore of the river mouth at the sunset of an unforgiving cold winter day. And the list could go on.
RABELO BOAT 2008 Watercolour on paper 20 x 25 cm Private Collection
19 20
FISHING IN DOURO ESTUARY 2006 Watercolour on paper 18 x 28 Collection of the artist
(from left to right) ELEVADOR DA BICA; SÉ DE LISBOA; CASTELO DE S. JORGE; ALFAMA LISBON 2011 Watercolour on paper 38 x 55 cm; 27 x 37 cm; 27 x 38cm; 38 x 55 cm Collection of the artist
21 22
Although António sees rural settlements
(left) CLÉRIGOS TOWER, PORTO 2007 Watercolour on paper 28 X 38 cm Private Collection
It is between the love of an unblemished na-
the moral qualities inspired by a good balance
ture and the love of creations markedly human
with nature, it is also in the busiest cities such
that the painting of António Silva has revealed
as Lisbon, Porto or Coimbra that he finds great
itself most expressive, and it is also here where
inspiration, because in their often stark contra-
it unpretentiously assumes itself as both time-
dictions they emphasize some of the qualities
less and contemporary. Because in its repre-
that he so greatly admires. In their statues and
sentation of both nature and human creation,
monuments which relive great periods of glory,
it celebrates beauty as a universal value and a
in their old markets, neighbourhoods or historic
way of life, which reminds us of the need for the
centres he finds spaces of strong meaning and
rediscovery of its fundamental qualities, with-
vitality, places with a sense of history, romance
out canons and without pretentious symbol-
and belonging, where people’s lives and spaces
isms, there, in our everyday lives, within free
seem to merge into one whole thing, full of life
reach, for all to see.
and love, that love that so often escapes us in
RIBEIRA PANORAMIC VIEW 2013 Watercolour on paper 33 x 48,5 cm Collection of the artist
23 24
the disillusions of city life.
as noble and peaceful places associated with
BIOGRAPHY
Solo Exhibitions
1960
Born in V. N. de Gaia, Portugal
1992
Town Hall Gallery, Estarreja
1972
Began drawing on his own
1992
Gallery K, Ontario, Canada
1978
Began painting through self-study
1993
House Staff Hospital Center of Vale do
1984 - 87
School of Decorative Arts of Soares dos
1986 1987 - 05 1992 1997 - 10 2003 2005 - 09 2008
2008 2009 -
Sousa, Paredes
Reis, Porto
1994
Tourism Center, Esposende
First exhibition at Teixeira Lopes Museum, V.
1994
Hotel Equador, Cascais
N. de Gaia
1997
House of Mercy, Arcozelo, V. N. de Gaia
Worked as graphic designer; painted in
1998
Cultural Center, Paredes
spare time
2002
Cultural Cooperative Gaia Artists, V. N. de Gaia
First International Exhibition at Gallery K, Ontario, Canada
2002
Tourism Center, V. N. de Gaia
Member of the Cultural Cooperative “Artis-
2003
House Staff Hospital Center, Penafiel
tas de Gaia”
2004
Daniel Constant Gallery, V. N. de Gaia
Invited artist for the exhibition “The best 20
2005
Vintage House Hotel, Pinhão, Alijó, Douro
artists of Gaia”
2006
Municipal Auditorium of Gaia, V. N. de Gaia
Full-time painting
2006
Irene Gallery, Valpaços
Exhibition at the most prestigious exhibi-
2006
Garfos e Letras Gallery, Porto
tion space in Gaia: Municipal Auditorium of
2007
Library, Lousada, Porto
Gaia, V. N. de Gaia
2008
Municipal Auditorium, V. N. de Gaia
First exhibition at the epicentre of Port win-
2008-09
Vintage House Hotel, Pinhão, Douro
emaking area: Vintage House Hotel, Douro
2008
Library, Perosinho, V. N. de Gaia
Painting and giving painting lessons
2008
Tourism Center, Penedono, Douro
Joined a group of painters that travel peri-
2009
Cultural Center “Casa Barbot”, V. N. de Gaia
odically around Portugal to exchange ideas
2010
Municipal Auditorium, V. N. de Gaia
and to paint landscapes en plein aire
2010
Estarreja Cultural Center, Estarreja
2010
Eduardo Brazão Cine Theater, Valadares, V. N. de Gaia
2010
Cultural Center, Estarreja
2010 - 12
Vintage House Hotel, Pinhão, Alijó, Douro
2012
ISCTE Library, Lisbon
2013
Municipal Auditorium, V. N. de Gaia
Colective Exhibitions
Selected Collections
1986
Teixeira Lopes Museum, V. N. de Gaia
Public
1991
Maria Manuela Gallery, V. N. de Gaia
the regional area of Vale do Sousa, Porto)
1993
House Staff Hospital Center of Vale do
“The Route of the Romanesque in Vale do
Sousa, Paredes
Sousa”, 21 watercolour paintings of the
Gaia Artists – Prize António Joaquim, Gaia
churches of the Post-Romanic in Vale do
Library, V. N. de Gaia
Sousa.
1998
Valsousa (Association of municipalities of
1998; 2002; Library, Perosinho, V. N. de Gaia 2003; 2005 1999 - 00
Municipal Auditorium, V. N. de Gaia Cultural Cooperative Gaia Artists, Annual Exhibition, V. N. de Gaia
2000
Cultural Center, Paredes
2003
Cultural Cooperative Gaia Artists – invited artist for the exhibition “The best 20 artists
Private
“Rota do Móvel” in Paredes. Joaquim Martins
of Gaia” 2001 - 08
Cultural Cooperative Gaia Artists, Annual
Mário Bismark
Exhibition, V. N. de Gaia Joaquim Sá Mário Dorminsky Family Azeredo Lobo