Something strange emerges from the seawater at the marina in Faro. In fact, two sculptures that have spent decades forgotten in a corner of a council warehouse now can be seen in permanent exhibition at the Faro waterfront.
One is of a female figure, a sort of water nymph, with a shell shaped head and now seated on the steps of the old port in front of the hotel EVA. The other one is based on a whelk and is set on a temporary concrete base at the wharf.
Both sculptures have not seen the light of day for 27 years but now that these important works are on display there is no information as to who, what, why and how they got there.
Olhão habitué Madeleine Blondel is an art conservation and restoration technician based in Brussels and also is the widow of the sculptor José Luís Costa - the local artist who designed both pieces.
Madeleine tracked down the sculptures and explains what is needed to complete the story of this long running commission.
Last May, photos of a sculpture that had been placed on the steps of Faro’s port began to circulate on Facebook. One looked just like the sculpture of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen and Madeleine immediately was on the trail.
A reporter from Algarve123 asked Faro Council for clarification. The answer was that these are old pieces, from the 1980s, without “greater significant display value.”
Hence the sculptures were lent to the Faro’s Downtown Traders Association for a street exhibition. Unlike its iconic Danish counterpart, at high tide the Faro mermaid is submerged and at low tide often is surrounded by rubbish and the story would have stopped here if it wasn’t for Madeleine Blondel, who had seen the images on Facebook.
Madeleine was in Oporto and travelled to the Algarve to check that the images indeed were the sculptures she had helped create 27 years ago. They were, but this was not a happy occasion. "I came directly from the airport and when I saw the sculptures I suddenly felt very sad. They weren’t supposed to be exhibited like this and they are in a very bad state of conservation.”
Back in 1986, José Luís Costa, together with Miró da Silva - a Portuguese artist living in Brussels - and the Belgian sculptor Pascal Radar participated in a collective exhibition at the Museu de Arqueologia de Faro.
Their works so much impressed the Mayor João Negrão Belo that he invited them to “create a joint production to embellish and promote the artistic value of a specific area of the city,” according to an article published at the time in Correio da Manhã.
In a statement, the Mayor was quoted as saying that he justified the initiative as there was a “clear lack of sculptures” in the municipality, and classified the artists as “youngsters whose talent is quite exceptional.”
“We should think that the world does not stop, that the future generations will have a different approach and therefore, today it is urgent to preserve that other way of thinking. And since it is important to give an opportunity to youngsters and perpetuate their works, the choice has fallen on these three artists,” said the well-intentioned mayor, with an eye to the future.
José Luis Costa made the original models of the nymph which now sits on the dock’s steps, and of the whelk. He then invited the friends Miró da Silva and Pascal Radar, currently a renowned sculptor in Belgium, to make the sculptures.
“I rented a farmhouse in the countryside in Guia which was the ideal place for them to work, since our house was too small. I was the one who prepared them tuna sandwiches for lunch!”, jokes Madeleine.
The works started in June 1987, and the sculptures were ready in autumn. The trio of artists developed an innovative hammering technique to work the copper.
"The whelk, ‘murex brandaris,’ was created at the same period that the Ria Formosa Natural Reserve was created and I think that it was a kind of homage.”
For unknown reasons neither the nymph nor the sea whelk could find a permanent place in the city, “The nymph was to be placed in a garden close to the fire station,” not far from where it currently is, but nothing ever was done.
At the time, the Praça Silva Porto and Praça D. Francisco Gomes were suggested by the press as possible locations for the sculptures. The November 1987 edition of the Algarve Magazine published an article under the title ‘Sculpture without a home,’ regretting the lack of interest demonstrated by Faro Council for the nymph that had been commissioned with great enthusiasm yet remained homeless.
“No significant expository value?” This is nonsense says Madeleine as Costa was a sought after artist even then. In the last years of the eighties, “José Luis Costa delivered various public art projects to Faro council which were never executed. Years later I was passing by the Largo de São Francisco and with great shock I saw that horrible fountain of the balls that they built there. That is a misinterpretation of one of those early projects. It is really sad!”
“Of course much has changed over the years, and a lot has happened. Meanwhile I got divorced and moved away from José Luis Costa and his work as a sculptor. All this became an issue of the past,” until the Faro’s Downtown Traders Association decided to rescue the pieces from the old council carpentry store.”
Madeleine explained to the leader of the association that “the nymph deserves much better conditions” as when in contact with the sea water it will rust. The green patina finish has completely disappeared. “I was told that it came like that from the warehouse. However, the patina still is disappearing and there is an urgent need to stop the oxidisation. The whelk is still in reasonable condition, but a piece of it is missing – a seagull, that has been removed deliberately.”
Faro’s tourists seem to appreciate the pieces. Madeleine comments, “It’s a good thing and I wouldn’t say that the idea does not deserve credit. The initiative isn’t bad, but was not successfully executed.”
“The concrete cube swallows the whelk, ruining its aesthetic harmony. The base should have another geometric shape. The nymph cannot be moved from the actual place, since it is now welded to the step and therefore will continue to be damaged by being regularly submerged by the sea water.”
But for Madeleine Blondel the most complicated unresolved matter is to do with crediting the works. “The Association wants to make a single plaque for both sculptures. I think that each one deserves its own. I only want to see the memory of the father of my daughters being honoured. And if nobody does the plaques, I will do it myself with my friends. And if nobody is interested in preserving the sculpture I will have to come here and do it myself,” she concludes.
With many thanks to Algarve123
