Maria Freire

Critical text

Maria Freire (1917 2015, Montevideo) developed a distinctive style of abstraction, originally in sculpture but ultimately reaching her peak in the paintings combining spatial explorations with vibrant fields of colour. Her work is intertwined with that of her husband Jos Pedro Costigliolo, with whom she conducted shared research, starting with their travel to the 2nd Sao Paulo Biennial (1953) and then to Europe, where they encountered the artistic avant-garde. In 1952, the couple founded the Grupo de Arte No Figurativo, dedicated to the exploration of themes close to concrete art and abstraction. Her paintings always maintained a sculptural quality: the interplay of colour, lines, and shapes are designed to create oppositions as well as a sense of spatial continuity that undermines and interrupts the expectation of viewers. There is a musical quality to the unresolved tension of silhouettes, shapes and fields that like the music written in the same period indulges in withholding any final resolution, in pausing and contrast, in dissonance and interruption. These works leave us lingering for a unitary pattern which is ultimately unavailable. In the 1960s, the rigidity and precision of form gained a degree of fluidity, allowing for the works to become more dynamic and playful. Beyond her personal artistic achievements, Freire was also an influential critic, regularly writing in the newspaper and a dedicated educator.

Text by Francesco Manacorda

The artist’s voice

By visually moving away from nature, I realized that art above all is structure. And to make a good structure you must solve the technical problems, without forgetting your sensitivity.