Narrative Dimensions

Paula Rego has the cultural background of Portugal and England,and is an important contemporary painter in both countries.She grew up under the dictatorship of Oliveira Salazar in Portugal,then received art education in England,and settled there since 1976.Paula occupies an important position in modern and contemporary British painting,and her narrative painting is an important part of the modern and contemporary British figurative painting.However,little attention has been paid to her in China,and no Chinese monograph on her has been published yet.This paper tries to fill this vacancy by studying Paula and her works.Taking narrative as the axis,this paper mainly discusses the process of the formation,development and change of Paula’s narrative paintings in themes,forms of expression and creative methods,and the relationship between Paula’s narrative paintings and narrative texts of different media in this process.The article is divided into four chapters.The first chapter summarizes Paula’s personal experience and paintings.This chapter is divided into four sections,which respectively discuss the characteristics of Paula’s paintings in different periods,including the selection and changes of themes,painting materials,painting languages and creative methods.The second chapter mainly examines the formation of Paula’s narrative painting,its core theme and creative methods.This chapter is divided into two sections.The first section examines Paula’s concern and exploration of hierarchical order,power relations and gender politics within the scope of "family" theme in a progressive way,as well as the deepening and changes of themes and creative methods in this process.The second section mainly examines the relationship between Paula’s works and traditional narrative painting,which is inherited and rebelled,and the inspiration and influence of traditional painting creation methods on her by analyzing the important cooperation projects between Paula and the Art Museum.The third chapter focuses on the relationship between Paula’s painting with literature and drama.Paula’s works based on literature and drama are the deepening of "family" narrative painting.She examines the hierarchical order,power relations,gender politics,their construction and expression in novels and dramas in the form of painting.This chapter is divided into two sections,which analyze and discuss Paula’s borrowing and "adaptation" of literature and drama from content to form,as well as the expansion or deconstruction of the original text content and the above themes in this "adaptation" process,respectively,within the scope of literature and drama.In Paula’s mature narrative paintings,figurative figures are not only the content of the picture and the object of expression,but also "symbols" used to construct themes and express ideas,so the body is the core factor in Paula’s narrative paintings.Since Paula moved to London in 1976,figurative painting gradually developed into the main face of Paula’s painting,and it is similar to other contemporary figurative painters in Britain in creation methods,concepts and themes.Therefore,the fourth chapter makes a comparative study of Paula’s narrative figurative painting within the scope of contemporary figurative painting in Britain,and shows her role and particularity in the development of contemporary figurative painting in Britain.This chapter is divided into three sections,which respectively discuss the relationship between body and narrative;Different manifestations of the body and the similarities and differences in the themes,concepts and creative methods it carries;The influence of other visual media on the form of body expression in creation.Choosing Paula Rego as the object of case study is intended to explore the change and possibility of contemporary painting in narrative level with her as the node.In today’s media environment where image communication is the main media and the creation method with pictures as the main material,Paula’s painting and creation methods broaden the narrative dimension and are extremely meaningful and enlightening.