CANÇÃO DO MONDEGO – MONDEGO SONG
Price – 40 euros
Watercolours and drawings by John O’Connor complemented by texts from Portuguese authors selected by Maria do Carmo Paço d’Arcos. Bilingual edition (Portuguese/English).
Art book 20 x 27 cms, 65 pages, hard cover with illustrated dust-jacket. Publisher: Museu da Água de Coimbra. Year of edition: 2009. Accompanied by an exhibition of a selection of works from the book at Museu da Água in Coimbra.
Introduction
With the watercolours which constitute the main part of this book, the technique of which he handles with uncommon mastery, the artist courageously asserts – and demonstrates – that classical art refreshes us and enables us to contemplate in a leisurely way the purest ideal in painting: to see and to pass on this vision to others.
Manuel Carmo – Curator Museu da Água
Inside Pages
Watercolour, 370 x 270 mm
Mondego’s calm waters
Mondego’s calm waters
quietly flow
stopping only at the sea;
whilst my sorrows
slowly grow
finding no end in me.
Luís Vaz de Camões
Watercolour, 370 x 270 mm
Cascade
Waters, hovering at the height
Crashing over rocks without care,
Where white foam spraying in the air
Displays more beauty to our sight.
Francisco Rodrigues Lobo
Watercolour, 270 x 370 mm
Monte-Mayor castle
Awake,
stones,
for I’m calling you.
Tell me
about the secrets and dreams,
of the hands which have raised you.
From the heights
whence you look into the far horizon,
tell me
about the people bending
in the rice fields,
about the quiet duty
of the sun,
about the legends
which Time,
in its slow motion,
has kept inside your walls.
Awake,
stones,
for I will soon be gone.
I’ll carry you within me
as one carries a poem
or a bird
in one’s gaze.
Xavier Zarco
About the Authors
John O’Connor was born in London. He studied at the Chelsea School of Art where he was awarded two drawing prizes and graduated with a first class honours degree in Fine Art. This was followed by two years of postgraduate study at the Slade School. His work is represented in various private and public collections in Portugal and England including the Selecções do Reader’s Digest, Grupo Pestana, Hotel da Lapa, Museu da Cidade de Lisboa, Câmara Municipal de Sintra, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the private collection of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.
Maria do Carmo Paço d’Arcos was born in Lisbon into a family of celebrated literary tradition. She has worked in film production for many years. Recently, she has been translating English poets and organising art exhibitions.
How to Order
Please contact livrodouro@gmail.com for more details.