Henrique Pousão
This is the first guest post in the history of DailyArt, created by Artur Dionisio from Portugal, who wanted to share this beautiful but unknown piece with you. Have a great Tuesday!
This young boy, joyfully staring at us with mellow eyes and resting from the constant stillness of posing, may be part of one of the most symbolic yet ignored paintings regarding the process of creation. The working environment of the studio suggests an interruption, as if we have arrived just in time to be caught by a smile, and two proud eyes looking forward, begging us for approval. The boy is showing us, quite amused, his own version of himself. Behind him, on the canvas, stands the painter's sketch for the child's picture. The boy looks impetuous, turns his back to the canvas and exhibits his creation, like only a child would - representing the ideal of a child empowered by imagination, capable of destroying idiosyncrasy. The sketch done by the artist, is in fact a caricature of painting, in which the artist wishes to paint something more noble than what is presented before him, hence the boy in his drawing looks snobby, arrogant. Even his poor hat seems aristocratic, and it fails to capture the essence of the marvelous boy. His old ragged shoes look like those of a ballerina and in the carelessness of his childish manners, his foot is resting in an effortless "en pointe", showing an artistic nature! Henrique Pousão was a Portuguese painter, independent of all art movements and doctrines. Unfortunately, he died at the age of 25, and his relatively unknown work didn't let him achieve immortality just yet. Ironically, the name of this painting literally translates to "Wanting for Success".