Altina Mar
VIAJOR
Opening: 6 February, 6.30pm
Exhibition: from 7 February to 8 March 2025 | Mon-Fri 12h-19h, Sat 14h-20h
Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes
Rua Barata Salgueiro, nº 36, Lisboa
The Viajor Exhibition, displayed at the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes, between 7 February and 8 March 2025, is a symbolic interpretation of the Portuguese Discoveries, paying homage to Luís Vaz de Camões and his epic poem ´Os Lusiadas`, marking 500 years of the poet’s life and work.
The artwork comprises a polyptych of tapestries, created between 1993 and 2024, representing the starting and ending points of a narrative. It evokes the steps, encounters, and missteps of this epic journey, reflecting a personal conquest with an aesthetic and spiritual purpose.
It spans two distinct phases of the artist’s creative career: the classical-style tapestries, first showcased in 2002 at the ´Pátria Mundo` exhibition at the Museu Nacional do Traje, in Lisbon and the more experimental, contemporary works, exhibited in 2023 at the ´Habitat and the Poetics of the Five Senses` exhibition at the Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência, also in Lisbon.
Despite the stylistic differences, the narrative character remains constant throughout the exhibition. Whether through figurative or abstract representations, the tapestries have a profoundly personal dimension, rendering them enigmatic and inviting the viewer to interpret their titles and subtitles as an initiatory journey.
The techniques employed combine the binary crossing of threads, following both the classical tradition of the Manufacture ´des Gobelins` and experimental approaches. The work incorporates a broad range of materials, from natural fibres such as linen, wool, silk, and cotton to functional and climate-responsive artificial fibres. Precious metals like silver, copper, and gold, as well as limestone and semi-precious stones, shells, and glass, enrich the composition. Additionally, unexpected elements of a surrealist nature, such as clogs, shovels, and spinning wheels, lend the work a unique symbolic and descriptive dimension.
Constant creative evolution drives the experimentation with new materials and ways of capturing light, creating innovative atmospheres. The tapestry expands across multiple planes, offering an immersive sensory experience while seeking harmony between chaos and order. The artwork reveals the coexistence of opposites, such as masculine and feminine, technique and sensitivity, science, art, and nature, in a singular balance.
In perpetual transformation, the work reflects the impossibility of its conclusion, pointing toward a path of reconciliation with the planet, embedded within an aesthetic of resistance.
Luisa Moreira
Based on texts by Dr Madalena Braz Teixeira, in the catalogue Pátria Mundo, 2000 and by Altina Martins, in the catalogue Habitat e a Poética dos Cinco Sentidos, 2023
“Tecer é um fluxo de habilidades que se entrelaçam, é uma arte misteriosa”
Altina Mar
Altina Mar
‘Weaving is a flow of skills that intertwine, it’s a mysterious art’
Maria Altina Martins, better known as Altina Mar (1953), began her career in tapestry at the beginning of the 1970s. Her training and the refinement of her artistic and technical sensibility had the fundamental support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which awarded the artist two important scholarships. The first grant, in 1978/1979, allowed her to carry out in-depth research into Natural Weaving and Dyeing Methods, which she developed in the regions of Coimbra, Minho and Trás-os-Montes. The second grant, between 1995 and 1996, took her to the Manufacture des Gobelins in Paris, where she specialised in Woven Tapestry, one of the most prestigious tapestry schools in the world.
Altina Martins’ exhibition career is long and includes dozens of solo and group exhibitions.
In addition to her vast body of work, Altina Martins leaves an equally significant legacy in the field of textile teaching. As a teacher at Lisbon’s Escola Artística António Arroio, she played a fundamental role in the training of several generations of students, from 1981-1982 to 1988-2021. Throughout these decades, she not only taught techniques, but also inspired a new understanding and appreciation of tapestry as an art, perpetuating her legacy in the education and preservation of this tradition.
It is represented in the following institutional and private collections: Santuário de Fátima (1990); Centro Ismaelita de Lisboa (1991); Câmara Municipal de Montalegre (1992); Museu Nacional do Traje (1993), (2000) and (2008); Biblioteca de Montalegre (2004); Biblioteca de Albufeira (2004); Museu dos Lanifícios da UBI, Covilhã (2010); Museu Nacional do Teatro (2011); Palácio de Alpedrinha da C. M. Fundão (2012); Ecomuseu de Montalegre (2014); Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (2020). M. do Fundão (2012); Ecomuseum of Montalegre (2014); Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (2020).
ADAMASTOR, 1994
Temor e motivação
Gobelins experimental / Experimental gobelins
Lã, linho e seda natural fiados manualmente, algodão, seda vegetal e fios metálicos, pigmentos de cochinilha, indigo, cebola, sabugueiro e ruiva. / Handspun wool, linen and natural silk, cotton, vegetable silk and metallic threads, cochineal, indigo, onion, elderberry and redhead pigments, linen fabric printed with aniline reserve, wheat flour and gold pigment; embroidered with cotton, natural silk and viscose dyes.
125X125 cm
ADAMASTOR, 1994
(Pormenor / Detail )
Temor ou Vento Mau / Fear or ill wind
ADAMASTOR, 1994
(Pormenor / Detail )
Motivação ou Vento bom / Motivation or Fair wind
CHAGAS - ARMAS, 1997
A motivação
Gobelins experimental e tecelagem manual / Experimental Gobelins and hand weaving
Algodão, linho fiado manualmente, seda natural, seda vegetal ráfia natural e roldana de madeira chamada pomba ou castelo (usada na movimentação de liços nos teares manuais) / Cotton, hand-spun linen, natural silk, vegetable silk, natural raffia and a wooden pulley called a dove or castle (used to move the looms on handlooms)
30X30 cm | 44X10 cm
DINAMEN, 1998/99
A guerra e o amor
Gobelins experimental / Experimental gobelins
Lã, algodão, seda natural, seda vegetal, ráfia, crina, pigmentos anilinas, cochinilha e indigo / Wool, cotton, natural silk, vegetable silk, raffia, horsehair, aniline pigments, cochineal and indigo
350X167 cm | 350X78 cm
MAR, 1993
O Desafio e a conquista
Hanchures, clássica / Classic Hanchures
Algodão, conchas, ráfia e seda / Cotton, shells, raffia and silk
47X41 cm | 74X76 cm
SÍMBOLO E MITO, 1999
O Concreto e o imaginário
Técnica mista / Mixed technique
Fio de prata, pepita de prata dourada, aliança de prata e seda natural / Silver wire, gold-plated silver nugget, silver ring and natural silk
45X24 cm
VELA, 1999
As Asas do engenho
Gobelins experimental / Experimental Gobelins
Lã fiada manualmente, linho, seda natural, algodão, papel, ráfia e ouro / Hand-spun wool, linen, natural silk, cotton, paper, raffia and gold
40X125 cm
BÚSSOLA, 2000
Orientação e conhecimento
Hanchures, clássica / Classic Hanchures
Linho, lã, pedras semi-preciosas e “agulhas” (broches) usadas na realização da tapeçaria da Manufacture des Gobelins, pigmentos de pau-brasil e rucu. / Linen, wool, semi-precious stones and “needles” (brooches) used to make the Manufacture des Gobelins tapestry, brazilwood and rucu pigments
32 x 24 cm
VIAJOR, 1997/2000
A multiculturalidade - Tapeçaria personagem
Técnica mista / Mixed technique
Ráfia, algodão, seda natural, seda artificial, linho, cabedal, papel, madeira, fio de cobre, fio de nylon, ferro, arame, palha de aço, missangas de cerâmica pintadas manualmente, escamas de peixe, gaze, espuma, cabelo, tripas secas e cortiça / Raffia, cotton, natural silk, artificial silk, linen, leather, paper, wood, copper wire, nylon thread, iron, wire, steel wool, hand-painted ceramic beads, fish scales, gauze, foam, hair, dried gut and cork
VIAJOR, 1997/2000
A multiculturalidade - Tapeçaria personagem
Técnica mista / Mixed technique
Ráfia, algodão, seda natural, seda artificial, linho, cabedal, papel, madeira, fio de cobre, fio de nylon, ferro, arame, palha de aço, missangas de cerâmica pintadas manualmente, escamas de peixe, gaze, espuma, cabelo, tripas secas e cortiça / Raffia, cotton, natural silk, artificial silk, linen, leather, paper, wood, copper wire, nylon thread, iron, wire, steel wool, hand-painted ceramic beads, fish scales, gauze, foam, hair, dried gut and cork
VENTO, 2008
O sopro divino
Técnica mista / Mixed technique
Aço inoxidável, revestido com algodão, lã, seda, fios de cobre e prata de lei, fios dourados e prateados, fios refletor, glow in the dark e sunlight colour / Stainless steel, coated with cotton, wool, silk, copper and sterling silver threads, gold and silver threads, reflective threads, glow in the dark and sunlight color
FLORESTA, 2004/23
Terra firme
Técnica mista / Mixed Technique
Algodão; borracha; cana de bambu; empreita; missangas; seda; passamanaria em seda; ráfia; reflector; folhas de palmeira e de eucalipto; gaze tingida com anilinas, aro de bordar / Cotton; rubber; bamboo cane; lace; beads; silk; silk trimmings; raffia; reflectors; palm and eucalyptus leaves; aniline-dyed gauze, embroidery hoop
175X199x33 cm
FLORESTA, 2004/23
Terra firme
Técnica mista / Mixed Technique
Algodão; borracha; cana de bambu; empreita; missangas; seda; passamanaria em seda; ráfia; reflector; folhas de palmeira e de eucalipto; gaze tingida com anilinas, aro de bordar / Cotton; rubber; bamboo cane; lace; beads; silk; silk trimmings; raffia; reflectors; palm and eucalyptus leaves; aniline-dyed gauze, embroidery hoop
175X199x33 cm
ÉTER, 2016/23
O sopro divino que envolve os céus
Técnica mista / Mixed Technique
Pedra calcária fossilizada, prata, glow in the dark e reflector. / Fossilised limestone, silver, glow in the dark and reflector.
88x49x3 cm
ÉTER, 2016/23
O sopro divino que envolve os céus
Técnica mista / Mixed Technique
Pedra calcária fossilizada, prata, glow in the dark e reflector. / Fossilised limestone, silver, glow in the dark and reflector.
88x49x3 cm
ÁGUA, 2021/23
Força de Vida e Conexão
Técnica mista / Mixed Technique
Fios de algodão, papel, prata, glow in the dark, fluorescente, reflector e vidro soprado. / Cotton, paper, silver, glow in the dark, fluorescent, reflective yarns and blown glass.
101x63x9 cm
ÁRTICO, 2015
O desconhecido
Técnica mista / Mixed Technique
Fios de papel, prata, reflector, seda e madeira de pinho. / Paper, silver, reflective, silk yarns and pine wood.
90x329x9 cm
ATENA, 2019/23
A proteção divina
Técnica mista / Mixed Technique
Alcatruzes; cristais; estrela do mar; madeira de pinho, fios de glow in the dark, papel, prata, reflector, sunlight-colour, celulose, ouro, prata e cobre; sedimento arenoso; estrutura em ferro / Buckets; crystals; starfish; pine wood; glow-in-the-dark paper, silver, reflector, sunlight colour, cellulose, gold, silver and copper yarns; sandy silt; iron support.
139X117X25 cm
BALEIA, 2019/23
O desafio à coragem
Técnica mista / Mixed Technique
Fios de algodão, glow in the dark, papel, prata, fluorescente, inox, reflector e seda; vidro. / Cotton, glow in the dark, paper, silver, fluorescent, stainless steel, reflective and silk yarns; glass.
140x60x31 cm
BALEIA, 2019/23
O desafio à coragem
Técnica mista / Mixed Technique
Fios de algodão, glow in the dark, papel, prata, fluorescente, inox, reflector e seda; vidro. / Cotton, glow in the dark, paper, silver, fluorescent, stainless steel, reflective and silk yarns; glass.
140x60x31 cm
CETUS, 2020/23
A ordem celestial
Técnica mista / Mixed Technique
Fios de algodão, glow in the dark, inox, papel, prata, reflector, seda, dourados e prateados; conchas / Cotton glow in the dark, stainless steel, paper, silver, reflective, silk, gold and silver yarns; shells.
169x57x39 cm
NARVAL I, 2015/24
A Navegação do Impossível
Técnica mista / Mixed Technique
Fios de algodão, glow in the dark, inox, papel, prata, refletor e seda; vidro soprado, conchas de lingueirão (solen marginatus) e de vieira; arame e areia / Cotton thread, glow in the dark, stainless steel, paper, silver, reflector and silk; razor clam (solen marginatus) and scallop shells, blown glass and wire
300x124x16 cm
NARVAL I e II, 2015/24
A Navegação do Impossível
Técnica mista / Mixed Technique
Fios de algodão, glow in the dark, inox, papel, prata, refletor e seda; vidro soprado, conchas de lingueirão (solen marginatus) e de vieira; arame e areia / Cotton thread, glow in the dark, stainless steel, paper, silver, reflector and silk; razor clam (solen marginatus) and scallop shells, blown glass and wire
300x124x16 cm | 450x25 cm
CARAVELA DOS NOSSOS 500 ANOS, 2024/25
A alma dos oceanos
Técnica mista / Mixed Technique
Fios de algodão, glow in the dark, papel, prata, fluorescente, inox, reflector e seda; vidro. / Cotton, glow in the dark, paper, silver, fluorescent, stainless steel, reflective and silk yarns; glass.
140x60x31 cm