THE GALLERY OF CONTEMPORARY ART

The National Gallery of Contemporary Art, installed in the School of Fine Arts, which is itself insufficiently housed in an ancient Franciscan monastery, is of recent formation.

It dates, as a fact, from 1911, a period of changes and reforms that followed the proclamation of the Republic. The separation of Ancient from Modern Art was then made; that is to say, all works belonging to a later date than 1850 were excluded from the Great Lisbon Art Gallery.

This rather arbitrary division was not in conformity with any definite art period and still less with any revolution in national artistic life. It was, however, of some advantage from an administrative point of view in questions concerning Art.

In lack of an appropriate building, some rooms in the old Academy of Fine Arts were adapted to this purpose and some other works from the Academy were added, such as those sent by scholarship-holders and competition proofs, by young artists who later became famous.

New acquisitions, gradually, enriched this collection, which soon became too large for its temporary setting. It was, in short, officially recognized that the present quarters are insufficient, and a plan of a new Art-Gallery is at this moment being studied.

We therefore will say no more about the smallness and insufficiency of this Gallery.

It comprises five rooms for paintings – with a smaller room for water-colors and another for pastels – and a big room in which the greater part of the sculptures have been placed.

Another vast room, for young painters of latter generations is about to be opened to the public.

ROOM I

The first room on entering contains a collection of the oldest works of this Gallery, belonging to the latest romantic period.

A Raphaelesque Virgin, placed high on the wall, presides over the room. It is the work of a professor of the School of Fine Arts, A. M. Teixeira, and great part of the other works in this room, were painted by his pupils.

Miguel Angelo Lupi, also a professor, and portrait-painter of high merit, as may be seen even more in his wonderful portrait The Mother of Souza Martins exhibited in the next room (See Plate nr. 3) than in his great historical compositions; T. Metrass, whose academic manner takes us back to the lithographic period; T. de Annunciação, landscape painter and professor at the Lisbon School, as well as a remarkable animal painter, exhibits, among others, his admirable painting The Calf (See Plate nr. 4); Christino, also a noteworthy painter of this period, whose vigorous touch is plainly shown in a big landscape of some suburbs of Lisbon. A few painters of secondary merits, such as J. Rodriques, / 22 / Leonel, M. M. Bordalo, Patricia and Chaves, form the chorus.

Two amateurs of high standing show up brilliantly at the side of these lesser artists: Viscount de Menezes, who painted the large-size, charming picture of his wife wearing a crinoline (See Plate nr. 5) and Alfred Keil, also a composer and a poet, whose Return from the Pilgrimage happily expresses the hour at which twilight falls on the mountains. We reproduce here one of his paintings, when a youth, (See Plate nr. 6).

Lastly, A. Andrade, a great name both in painting and architecture gives us, before 1863, his picture Morn rebaptized as Marshes, a breezy open-air vision with a curious effect of light, which is a fore-runner of the French Impressionist School.

ROOM II

Side by side, are some French and Portuguese masters of the later part of the XIX Century, who are, really, our contemporaries, for although some disappeared over 40 years ago, others are still living.

A Drama of the Earth (See Plate nr. 16) is a discreet sample of the naturalist School, smelling of the soil, in the manner of Bastien-Lepage, and a fresh, light painting by Albert Besnard represents the virtuoso side of Impressionism (See Plate nr. 15).

A portrait by Bonnat in no way adds to his over-rated reputation; further on, a scene on the seashore, The Lost Boat (See Plate nr. 11) showing remarkable poise and delicacy of touch, is the work of a living Portuguese artist, Sousa Pinto, who is largely represented at the Luxembourg.

The master, Jean Paul Laurens, has here one of his correct, cold compositions, between an excellent Landscape by Defaux, an almost forgotten painter, and a picture – Banks of the Oise by Silva Porto, the great Portuguese open-air painter, in his youth. It is the work of a scholarship-holder.

Silva Porto's paintings are very numerous and of the highest quality. Five or six are to be found scattered throughout the Art-Gallery. In this same roam is a picture of a rustic cart – The Salmeja –, and a small landscape. In the following room is a picture of peasant-life, vigorously painted from nature, Returning from Market, and next to it is The Spinner, a very human picture, of which the preparatory crayon sketch is also shown in the Gallery.

A canvas signed Antonio Ramalho, of admirable technique and delicacy, shows us the sculptor, A. Nunes, at work. Some portraits by Malhoa and V. Salgado, a small study in oils by a good designer, Marques de Oliveira, former1y professor at the Oporto School of Fine Arts (Sec Plate nr. 10) two more portraits and a fine study – Negroes – by M. A. Lupi, complete the harmonious collection.

ROOM III

This room, where more recent paintings are shown, contains, besides the two Silva Porto works already referred to, some large-sized canvasses, such as: The Fair by Carlos Reis, the master landscape-painter, who has also two compositions in the following room (See Plate nr. 12); Love and Psyche lightly and tenderly treated, by a former professor, V. Salgado, (1892). The Deserted Church (See Plate nr. 12) / 23 / and the Breton picture – In the Cemetery are also of him, and were painted at the same period.

Desolation by Professor L. Freire, deserves its name; Woman Going to the Fountain, by Condeixa is in a corner, facing two sea paintings by João Vaz – Setúbal – and Falcão Trigoso – Algarve.

Dórdio Gomes has painted a powerful little study – Reaper's Rest – in which he has caught and concentrated the emotional effect of the vast Alentejo plains; and in conclusion, two of the works of Constantino Fernandes, a highly gifted painter who died young: – a Woman’s Head and a large tryptique showing the life of a Sailor (see plate nr. 14) in which his calm and admirable technique is seen.

Portrait of the Artist’s Father, a finely painted canvas, in the next room, is by the same painter.

In the centre of the room is a magnificent reproduction in bronze of Rodin's first great work – The Bronze Age.

ROOM IV

Here we find lined up, side by side, enormous Studio canvasses measuring six square meters, and smal1 sketches vividly captured from nature.

Our attention is immediately claimed by those vast surfaces where the painters brush sought to create theatrical effects. On our right we have Othello and Desdemona, by the Spaniard Munoz Degrain, wealthy in details, but poor in all that is required in a real work of Art.

On the left, a big, sincere painting by Condeixa, who seeks to give us a thrill with his Death of the Prince, Don Alphonso, son of King John, II; and the former professor, J. de Brito, goes a step further by placing before our eyes a Grand Guignolesque scene of the Inquisition.

In the place of honor will be seen what is perhaps the best and most finely composed work of José Malhoa – Celebrating St. Martin, which we reproduce (see page 13); the small landscape Autumn, and the picture Pumpkins.

Arthur Loureiro noted for his fresh tones, has three pictures in this Art-Gallery: two in this room, and three others on the wall of a stairway. (See page 10).

Antonio Carneiro, a painter-poet, exhibits one of his admirable flesh tints and only one of his paintings – Companions.

Sousa Lopes, present Director of this Gallery, only exhibits three canvasses: Interior of Studio, Effects of Light (see page 15) and a Venitian landscape, painted in his youth, little preludes, as it were, of his vast and varied work.

A few airy landscapes by Alves Cardoso, António Saúde and João Reis; an interesting Pierrot by Bonvalot, a young painter who died, and a still-life painting, of a bad, changing period, by E. Viana.