| Description |
One of Honoré de Balzac's most celebrated tales, The Unknown Masterpiece is the story of a painter who, depending on one's perspective, is either an abject failure or a transcendental genius - or both. The story has served as an inspiration to artists as various as Cézanne, Henry James, Picasso, and Paula Rego.
The sumptuously produced Catalogue Raisonné discusses and illustrates all Rego’s prints, including unpublished work. The second edition includes chapters on five new series produced since 2003 – Moon Eggs, Prince Pig, Wine, Curved Planks and Female Genital Mutilation; on the influence of Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s work on Rego; and an updated section of Works Out of Series.
Many of Rego’s prints are based on themes, as she says that one image triggers the idea for the next. Among these are Rego’s Nursery Rhymes, which reveal a darkly humorous take on the difficulties of childhood, and provide a rich seam for her precocious girls and individually characterized animals. Her work is known for revealing complex stories about the sinister side of sexuality and family relations, and Rego’s feminism underlies everything she does: the six works in the Female Genital Mutilation series are some of the most powerful images that she has ever produced.
A fully illustrated catalogue of the exhibition with an introduction by Tom Rosenthal. |