Paula Rego

The Directors of Marlborough Fine Art are delighted to announce their forthcoming exhibition of pastels and lithographs by Paula Rego. The exhibition will comprise work from 2004 to the present and will include 12 pastels including three triptychs: The Pillow Man, first shown at Tate Britain in November 2004 – January 2005 and its companion piece The Fisherman 2005 together with a 2006 work Vanitas – recently purchased by the Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The 12 new large lithographs being exhibited were printed at Curwen Press this year and explore many of the themes represented in the pastels.

These new paintings continue to show Paula’s ongoing interest in story telling. The Pillowman Triptych 2004 and The Fisherman Triptych 2005 originate from the dark comedy by Martin McDonagh The Pillowman shown at the National Theatre in 2004. The play had a profound effect on the artist and as a result of subsequent meetings with Martin McDonagh she was given access to published and unpublished works by him that have been a catalyst for the new pastels and lithographs. An additional source of inspiration, resulting in the lithographs of Prince Pig, is a sixteenth century Italian fairytale. This brutally sinister, but rather sad, tale complements themes explored in her other stories.

The exhibition coincides with the publication by Phaidon Press of the 3rd edition of Paula Rego by John McEwen. This book was first published in 1992 and a second edition was produced in 1997. The third edition will bring this major monograph completely up-to-date and will be available for purchase during the course of the exhibition.

Paula Rego – Printmaker will open at the Royal College of Art on Monday 9th October. This major retrospective of her complete graphic work was shown at the Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh as part of the Festival in 2005 and has subsequently been touring the UK. It will be on view in London for one week only. Thames & Hudson published Paula Rego – the complete graphic work by T.G. Rosenthal last year, which will also be available.

Paula Rego
Recent Work