This conference examines the artistic relations between Portugal and the US in the complex climate of the Cold War and the transition from Salazar’s dictatorship to democracy. One aim of the conference is to evaluate the different means by which Portuguese artists, critics, curators and wider audiences discovered and engaged with US art. Invited scholars and critics will offer first-hand insights into the challenges of studying and writing about US art during the late Cold War period. In addition, scholars will discuss the exhibition reviews that shaped the Portuguese perceptions of US art. They will examine the impact of US artists and movements on Portuguese art practice and tease out parallels and affinities between the artists of the two countries. 

Presentation

This conference examines the artistic relations between Portugal and the US in the complex climate of the Cold War and the transition from Salazar's dictatorship to democracy. The intersections between the Portuguese and US art worlds in this period have rarely been examined. Portuguese audiences had limited access to US art during this time, as the first exhibition of US art shown in Lisbon only took place in the late 1970s. Throughout Salazar's dictatorship, information about US art often reached audiences via exhibitions and networks in other European countries, especially England, France and Spain. One aim of the conference is to evaluate the different means by which Portuguese artists, critics, curators and wider audiences discovered and engaged with US art. Invited scholars and critics will offer first-hand insights into the challenges of studying and writing about US art during the late Cold War period. In addition, scholars will discuss the exhibition reviews that shaped the Portuguese perceptions of US art. They will examine the impact of US artists and movements on Portuguese art practice and tease out parallels and affinities between the artists of the two countries. 

The event is inspired by the anthology Hot Art, Cold War-Southern and Eastern European Writing on American Art, 1945-1990 edited by C. Hopkins and I.B.Whyte (Routledge, 2020), an initiative of the journal Art in Translation and funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

The conference is organised by Pedro Lapa (ARTIS, School of Arts And Humanities, University of Lisbon) and Sofia Nunes (IHA/NOVA FCSH) in collaboration with Claudia Hopkins (Durham University) with generous funding from the Terra Foundation for American Art and the support of Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. 

Programme

27 April 2022

10:00-10:40 Welcome and introductory remarks

• Introduction: Hot Art, Cold War: European Writing on US Art. Claudia Hopkins (Professor and Director of the Zurbarán Centre for Spanish and Latin American Art, University of Durham).
• A Difficult Gap: the reception of North-American Art in Portugal, 1945-1990, Pedro Lapa (Professor, ARTIS, School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon) and Sofia Nunes (Art Critic, PhD. Candidate, IHA/NOVA FCSH).

Keynote Lecture

• 10:45-11.35 Vieira da Silva: Looking at a Cold World from above. Serge Guilbaut (Professor Emeritus of Art History, British Columbia University)

11.35-12.00 Coffee Break

Panel 1: Reviews Revisited

• 12:00-12.30 The Outspread of Scale, Sílvia Chicó (Art Critic, Professor retired, FBAUL University of Lisbon)
• 12:30-13.00 After my First Trip to New York (1983): a Personal Memoir, Alexandre Melo (Professor, ISCTE - IUL)

13.00-14.30 Lunch Break

Panel 2: US Art Exhibitions and Portugal

• 14:30-15.00 The Exhibition “Painting and Sculpture of a Decade 1954-1964” Seen by Art Critics and Portuguese Artists: a First Encounter with USA Art, Leonor de Oliveira (IHA/ NOVA FCSH)
• 15.00-15.30 A Liberating Impulse? The Exhibition “Liberation: 14 American Artists” in Lisbon in 1977, Giulia Lamoni (IHA/ NOVA FCSH)

15.30-16.00 Coffee Break

• 16:00-16.30 The Exhibition “Contemporary American Sculpture: Signs of Life” (1989): Framework, Aesthetics and Criticism, Isabel Nogueira (CIEBA, FBAUL)
• 16:30-17.00 US Photography in Photographic Meetings in Coimbra, Conversation between Albano Silva Pereira (Director CAV) and Sérgio Mah (Invited Professor, NOVA FCSH, FBAUL)

28 April 2022

Keynote Lecture

• 10:00-11.00 Robert Rauschenberg: Neo-Dada and Intermedia, Branden Joseph (Frank Gallipoli Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art, Columbia University)

11.00-11.30 Coffee Break

Panel 3: Affinities between US and Portuguese Artists, 1945-1990

• 11.30-12.00 Júlio Pomar and Thomas Hart Benton: Formal Approaches Between Different Conceptions of Realism for an Emergency of the Present, David Santos (Curator, State Art Collection)
• 12.00-12.30 The Family of Man Effect on Portuguese Photography, Emília Tavares (Curator MNAC/Invited Professor NOVA FCSH)
• 12.30-13.00 Expressionist Features in Portuguese Abstract Painting, Fernando Rosa Dias (Professor, CIEBA, FBAUL)

13:00-14.30 Lunch Break

• 14:30-15.00 Title to be announced, Delfim Sardo (Professor, CIEBA, FBAUL/Institut ACTE, Paris 1 ; Administrator, CCB)
• 15:00-15.30 Neo-Dadaism and Pop Art in Paralax view, Pedro Lapa (Professor, ARTIS-IHA, FLUL)

15:30-16.00 Coffee Break

• 16:00-16.30 Julião Sarmento, Transatlantic Crossing, Sofia Nunes (Art Critic, Phd Candidate, IHA/NOVA FCSH)
• 16:30-17.00 Other Expressionisms. Distances, Proximities and Affinities between Portugal and USA in the 80’s, Margarida Brito Alves (Professor, IHA/DHA/NOVA FCSH)

17:00-17.30 Final remarks

Information

This is an in-person event taking place at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon.  

To register, please click here  

Conference language: Portuguese/English (translation will be provided) 

Organizers

• Durham University
• ARTIS-IHA/FLUL 

Sponsors

• Terra Foundation for American Art
• Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation 

Supporters

• Art History Institute (IHA) of NOVA FSCH
• Art in Translation