Images © Paula Rego

01.12.11: Gallery

"If you put frightening things into a picture, then they can't harm you. In fact, you end becoming quite fond of them."
- Paula Rego

The monumentality and psychological drama of Paula Rego's paintings have established her as one of the most important figurative painters of her generation. Her first retrospective exhibition in London in 1988 brought together a range of her dramatically simplified paintings of the ambiguous relations of men, women and children.

Since the 1990s Rego has produced new important work, including the Peter Pan etchings, the Dog Woman series and The Ostriches.

01.12.11: GRAPHIC WORK

Rego's graphic work is as important as her painting. The book pictured right is the first monograph to deal exclusively with Rego's graphic work. It features over two hundred etchings, aquatints and lithographs from 1954 right up to the Jane Eyre series in 2002, and includes her most recent colour lithographs Apres La Fete I and Apres La Fete II of 2003. For many painters, etching and lithography are merely an adjunct to their art, their graphic images simple copies of their paintings in another medium. Rego is unique in that her graphic works are mostly original in theme as well as execution, yet manage to carry the same disturbing and subversive power as her paintings.

Rego's friend and long time supporter T. G. Rosenthal provides the background to each series and analyses each work. He also quotes extensively from conversations with the artist, underlining Rego's dark humour and her strongly feminist outlook. A fully illustrated catalogue raisonne, a description of Rego's techniques by Paul Coldwell, a comprehensive list of exhibitions, and a bibliography make this an essential survey of a major aspect of Rego's work.

01.12.11: NURSERY RHYMES

'"Really, really scary Daddy," is my ten-year-old's verdict."But in a good way."
- V&A Magazine

Paula Regos Anthology of traditional nursery rhymes features around 20 well- known tales, illustrated by her sometimes disturbing, but always arresting engravings. These wonderfully comic and rich illustrations turn classic nursery rhymes into colourful stories about folly and delusion, cruelty, convention and sex.