(Lisbon 1908–1992 Paris) Le four, signed, dated Vieira da Silva 52, oil on canvas, 61 x 74 cm, framed, (PP)

Provenance: Galerie Ariel, Paris (label on the reverse)
Purchase there by the current owner in 1975 -
Private Collection, USA

Exhibited: Travelling exhibition: Elf Tijdgenoten uit Parijs, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 27 February - 13 April 1953 / Eindhoven, Stedelijk Van Abbe-Museum, 18 April – 30 May 1953, exhibition catalogue. no. 100 (here titled Compositie, rood) (label on the reverse) /The Hague, Gemeente Museum;
Basel, Panorama, Galerie Beyeler, 1959, exhibition catalogue. no. 6 with ill. (here titled Composition)

Literature: Jacques Busse, Tendances, Journal de l’Amateur d’Art, no. 100, Paris, 25 November 1952 with ill. (here titled Intérieur and undated, rotated 1/4 turn to the left); Maria Vieira da Silva. Catalogue raisonné, Skira, Geneva, 1994, page 187, no. 962 with ill. (here 60 x 73 cm)

“The reason why I used small squares, this wobbly perspective (my definition), is that I was not interested in following Mondrian or anyone else. I wanted something else. I wanted people to not be passive. I wanted them to come, take part in the game, walk around, go up and down...”
(M. H. Vieira da Silva)

The work of Portuguese-French artist Maria Helena Vieira da Silva is positioned between figurative and abstract painting. She became famous for her patchwork style, developed during the 1930s. Her paintings are built up from numerous mosaic-like areas of colour, resembling a grid of lines. When viewed, the lines and patches of colour seem to take on a shape, drawing the observer into the picture. “When you view a picture, you should find yourself looking at an entity that keeps you company, tells you stories, gives you a sense of security. I constantly perform a particular kind of work with my canvas and palette: a bit more white, a bit less green, too cold, too hot, ascending lines, descending lines, connecting, this means a lot in painting, yet nothing in words. I think that the gradual addition of small patches, busy as a bee, creates the picture. A picture should have a heart.”
(Vieira da Silva, 1955)

Vieira da Silva initially studied sculpture, before beginning her painting career in 1929 under the influence of Fernand Léger. Her stylistic breakthrough came after a visit to Marseilles in 1931, which helped her develop the simplification of form which became typical of her work from that time onwards: the famous Rochefort transporter bridge – a bold iron construction built in the late 19th century – appeared to her in a certain light as a “fantasy of space and light” (Werner Schmalenbach); from then on, an altered form of this impression was channelled into her painting.
(from: Dorotheum myartmagazine, September 2013, page 50/51)