Paula Rego

Paula Rego - The Dance, 1988 

 

 

 

"Art is the only place you can do what you like. That's freedom." - Paula Rego. 

 

 

 

 

 

Paula Rego has ploughed a singular field in art championing women's rights with her narrative paintings which are at turns serious, whimsical, harrowing and at times quite surreal. This big retrospective at Tate Britain nicely charts the developments of her art from the early abstracted figurations driven by her dislike of the dictatorial regime of António de Oliveira Salazar in her native Portugal, to the series of paintings of girls with men and dogs containing a sense of underlying menace that brought her to prominence in the 1980s, and ends with her current large series of pastel paintings addressing serious/difficult issues faced by women and the fight for the control of their bodies. Indeed the exhibition ends on a rather depressing note with a room full of pictures tackling the horrific subject of female circumcision and genital mutilation. As urgent as this issue is surely the curators could have sent us on our way on a more cheerful note. Rego was sent to Britain in the 1950s to escape Salazar's authoritarian regime by her father who seems to have played a pivotal role in her life. Here whilst attending the Slade she met and eventually married fellow artist Victor Willing. The messy intricacies of their relationship are frankly played out in paintings such as The Dance, (above), and recounted by Rego in the biographical documentary made by her son Nick Willing - Paula Rego: Secrets and Stories - which plays at the entrance to this exhibition and can occasionally be seen on BBC iPlayer. I had never experienced any of Rego's early collaged paintings in the flesh previously, so it was a pleasure to examine them up close, and recognise as someone else who works in collage what Rego describes as "the sensual act of cutting". Cutting whether into lino or paper has always been central to my practice so it was exciting to see the visceral pleasure that the act of cutting itself has brought to another creative recognised and acknowledged. Drawing though, is the practice that underpins all of Rego's work. I saw this previously here, and her mastery of draughtsmanship is again all too evident throughout this exhibition. This drawing is reinforced by a series of figurative dolls/models which Rego records from direct observation, created both by herself and her son-in-law, artist Ron Mueck. This exhibition features just one of Rego's models created from stitching skills learnt as a child. Pastel has become Rego's medium of choice in this later period of her career, and I would say that these later pastels of hers rival the power of those of Edgar Degas. Dog Woman, and the Untitled series in which Rego tackles the issue of women taking control of their bodies and avoiding the resulting unneccessary deaths through illegal backstreet abortions after a defeated vote in a Portugese referendum are particularly powerful. They are comparable to Degas' series of women frozen, crouching and washing themselves at their toilette. Rego's skills in drawing and evoking a sense of narrative in her compositions recall not just the artist Degas, but also other noted storytellers - Hogarth, Velázquez and Goya. This sense of the narrative and the Victorian sensibilities of Rego's work seems to put her at odds with the likes of the younger generation of conceptual artists who gave up on painting just as she came to prominence. Rego though, has acknowledged that her work isn't fashionable, stating - "I'm not fashionable at all, and the fact that I manage to sell pictures without being fashionable is thanks to my gallery". This singular vision and talent has served and continues to serve Rego well. Talent will out. All of the evidence can be witnessed here.

 

 

 

Paula Rego

until 24th October

Tate Britain

Millbank

London

SW1