Women by women
In 2024, we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Galeria Estação. In this special year, I am delighted to pay tribute to the women artists I have had the privilege of working with and promoting, who have become an integral part of our history since our inaugural exhibition. I hold great admiration for their contributions!
Conceição dos Bugres
Elza
Izabel Mendes da Cunha
Madalena dos Santos Reinbolt
Maria Auxiliadora
Miriam
Noemisa
Zica Bergami
The lives of these remarkable women were steeped in art, creativity, and poignant narratives. Presently, only Noemisa remains among us. I had the privilege of meeting Dona Izabel, Noemisa, and Zica in person, the first two during a trip to the Jequitinhonha Valley in February 2010. With both, I shared moments of profound emotion and engaged in meaningful dialogues, connecting with a remarkably rich reality in unexpectedly personal ways.
Zica resided with her daughter in São Paulo, in the Alto de Pinheiros neighborhood. Some time after Estação's inauguration, I received a call from her daughter expressing their interest in visiting the new gallery. The encounter was delightful! Zica, around 90 years old, radiated good spirits. Besides being a draftsman, she was also a composer, credited with creating the famous song "Lampião de gás" ("Gas Lamp"). Sadly, she passed away at the age of 98.
I held individual exhibitions for Conceição dos Bugres, Izabel, Maria Auxiliadora, and Miriam when they were not yet known to the public.
Three remarkable women, whom I deeply admire, agreed to contribute to this collective project: Galciani Neves, Visual Arts professor at the Federal University of Ceará and the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado in São Paulo; Lilia Schwarcz, historian and anthropologist, full professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters, and Human Sciences at the University of São Paulo; Lorraine Mendes, artist, researcher, and current curator of the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo.
In addition to these three esteemed scholars, I extended invitations to my friends and collaborators, including the visual artist Yara Dewachter, whose research and work center on women artists. In one of her exhibitions, I acquired portraits of Izabel and Zica. It was then that, envisioning "Women by Women," I invited Yara to portray our eight artists, fostering an enriching visual dialogue.
To all the artists and writers, I extend my heartfelt gratitude for joining me on this transformative journey!
Vilma Eid
Celebrating 20 years in the art market, Galeria Estação kicks off the 2024 exhibition calendar on February 22nd with the group show "Women by women."
Featuring 47 pieces, the exhibition, running until March 16th, pays homage to the legacy of Conceição dos Bugres, Elza de Oliveira Souza, Izabel Mendes da Cunha, Maria Auxiliadora Silva, Madalena dos Santos Reinbolt, Mirian Inêz da Silva Cerqueira, Zica Bérgami, and Noemisa Batista dos Santos. In addition to this curated collection, all the artists have been portrayed by the visual artist Yara Dewachter, whose canvases are also part of the exhibition.
In this year marking two decades of active engagement in the art market, São Paulo's Galeria Estação inaugurates the 2024 exhibition program with the opening of the group show "Women by women" on February 22nd. Conceived by collector and gallery owner Vilma Eid, the exhibition, according to her, "is a tribute to women artists with whom I have been working, promoting, and who are part of our history and whom I greatly admire."
In her curatorial perspective, Vilma has selected 47 works – including paintings and sculptures – from eight women: Conceição dos Bugres from Rio Grande do Sul (1914-1984), Elza de Oliveira Sousa from Pernambuco (1928-2006), Izabel Mendes da Cunha and Maria Auxiliadora Silva from Minas Gerais (1924-2014, 1935-1974), and Noemisa Batista dos Santos (the only living artist in the collective), Madalena dos Santos Reinbolt from Bahia (1919-1977), Mirian Inêz da Silva Cerqueira from Goiás (1938-1996), and Zica Bérgami from São Paulo (1913-2011). Alongside these artists' works, paintings by Yara Dewachter portraying the honorees will also enrich the exhibition in a visually engaging dialogue with their legacy.
According to Vilma, these women's lives were marked by creativity and often poignant stories. Regarding her personal encounters with some of them, the gallery owner shares, "I personally met Mrs. Izabel, Noemisa, and Zica. The first two during a trip I made in February 2010 to Vale do Jequitinhonha. With both, I experienced moments of great emotion and contact with a very rich reality, with surprising and very personal dialogues." Speaking of Zica, whose original name is Maria Elisa Campiotti Bérgami, she recalls receiving her visit shortly after opening Estação. "It was a delightful encounter. She was already in her 90s and in good spirits. In addition to being a draftsperson, she was a composer, having created the famous song 'Lampião de gás.' Regarding Conceição dos Bugres, Izabel, Maria Auxiliadora, and Mirian, I held solo exhibitions when they were not yet known to the general public."
To write about this collective, Vilma invited three women: Galciani Neves, a Visual Arts professor at the Federal University of Ceará and at the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado in São Paulo; Lilia Schwarcz, a historian, anthropologist, and full professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters, and Human Sciences at the University of São Paulo; and Lorraine Mendes, an artist, researcher, and currently a curator at the Pinacoteca do Estado São Paulo. "In addition to these three scholars, I also invited the visual artist Yara Dewachter, whose research and work focus on women artists. In one of her exhibitions, I acquired the portraits of Izabel and Zica. It was then that, thinking about 'Women by women,' I invited her to portray our eight artists," explains the gallery owner.
Marking Differences and Resistance
For Professor Galciani Neves, the collective holds great significance. According to her, organizing an exhibition solely featuring women artists is an affirmation and emphasis of the importance of these women's workspaces. "This is a matter that marks many differences. For a woman to be an artist, she must face even more complex challenges. Therefore, this exhibition has the strength of a very specific time nature, of a resistance related to gender and desires that do not succumb to the world as it is organized," she evaluates.
Curator Lorraine Mendes refers to a 1971 article by American art historian Linda Nochlin, which she considers essential, "Why have there been no great women artists," to contextualize the importance of "Women by women." According to Lorraine, "Linda questions methodological parameters of the discipline, as well as the construction of the narrative called art history based on the creation of the figure of the genius artist, a being with gender, social class, and race whimsically conceived throughout history." In her interpretation, she adds that the historian's reflections can be complemented by other issues specific to the Brazilian context, especially when considering the category of so-called popular art. "In this sense, thinking about the production of these eight artists is more than an invitation to appreciate the works and their stories; it is an opportunity to recognize them as significant references in the history of Brazilian art and to discuss urgent issues that the field faces today," she asserts.
In her text "Elza and Mirian: when using one's own name is an act of rebellion," Lilia Schwarcz reviews and analyzes the personal and professional trajectories of the two artists meticulously and critically. After contextualizing them in their spaces and time, she states that the art system has never been generous to women, nor to artists who were externally classified as popular. "Mirian and Elza are two enlightened painters who, in the midst of the 1960s/70s, choose to remove their family names to be professionally recognized by their own designations for their originalities. Exactly them, so different, were framed and hierarchized based on an elitist metric of the arts that did not allow for plurality and difference. It's time to reject these colonial gestures that prefer to classify others but not themselves. Painting everyday life, subjectivity, and the world of affections has never been less, it has always been an immense and profound more," she declares.
"Women by women" will be on view at Galeria Estação until March 16th.
About Galeria Estação
With a collection among the pioneers and most important in the country, Galeria Estação, opened in late 2004 by Vilma Eid and Roberto Eid Philipp, has established itself by revealing and promoting the production of non-erudite Brazilian art. Its role was decisive in including this language in the contemporary art circuit by issuing publications and holding individual and group exhibitions under the scrutiny of the country's leading curators and critics. The roster, which has gained space in specialized media, has also conquered the international scene by participating, among others, in the exhibition "Histoire de Voir" at the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain in France in 2012 and the Biennial "Entre dois Mares – São Paulo | Valencia" in Spain in 2007. Emblematic of this international performance was the solo exhibition of Veio – Cícero Alves dos Santos in Venice, in a parallel show to the Arts Biennial in 2013.
In Brazil, in addition to prestigious solo and group exhibitions, the gallery's artists have their works in important collections and institutions with great prestige and recognition, such as the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, the Museu Afro Brasil (SP), the Pavilhão das Culturas Brasileiras (SP), the Instituto Itaú Cultural (SP), the Sesc São Paulo, the MAM – Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, and the MAR in the capital of Rio de Janeiro.
Women by women
When: February 22nd to March 16th
Where: Galeria Estação
Address: Rua Ferreira Araújo, 625 – Pinheiros, São Paulo
Opening: February 22nd (Thursday), from 6 pm to 9 pm
Gallery opening hours: Monday to Friday, from 11 am to 7 pm; Saturdays, from 11 am to 3 pm; closed on Sundays
Phone: 55 11 3813-7253
Email: contato@galeriaestacao.com.br
Website: www.galeriaestacao.com.br/
Instagram: @galeriaestacao
