José Sobral de Almada Negreiros,usually known asAlmada Negreiros(7 April 1893 – 15 June 1970), was a Portuguese artist. He was born in the colony ofPortuguese São Tomé and Príncipe,the son of a Portuguese father,António Lobo de Almada Negreiros,and a Santomean mother, Elvira Freire Sobral. Besides literature and painting, Almada developed balletchoreographies,and worked ontapestry,engraving,murals,caricature,mosaic,azulejoandstained glass.
Almada Negreiros | |
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 Almada Negreiros, photographed by Vitoriano Braga | |
| Born | 7 April 1893 Roça Saudade,Trindade,São Tomé |
| Died | 15 July 1970(aged 77) Hospital de São Luís dos Franceses,Lisbon |
| Occupation | Painter, writer |
| Genre | novel, play, poem, essays andpamphletarymanifests |
| Literary movement | Futurism |
| Spouse | Sarah Afonso |
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Life and work
editHis mother died in 1896. In 1900 he entered aJesuitboarding schoolinCampolide,Lisbon. After theOctober 1910 republican revolutionthe school was closed and Almada entered theEscola Internacional,also in Lisbon.
In 1913 he had his first individual exhibition, showing 90 drawings. In 1915, along withFernando PessoaandMário de Sá-Carneiro,he published poems and texts in theOrpheuartistic magazine, which would introducemodernistliterature and art in Portugal. This same year Almada Negreiros wrote the famousManifesto Anti-Dantase por extenso,a humorous attack against a more traditionalist and bourgeois older generation. In 1915 the artist also conceived theO Sonho da Rosaballet.
In 1917, with the aim of introducing the Portuguese public toFuturisticaesthetics, Almada Negreiros published, together withSanta-Rita Pintor,thePortugal Futuristamagazine, writing theUltimatum Futurista, às gerações portuguezas do século XX( "Futurist ultimatum to the Portuguese generations of the 20th century" ). He promoted a conference, theSessão Futurista( "Futurist Session" ), where he appeared wearing a flight suit.
Between the years 1918–20 Almada lived in Paris. To support himself, he worked as a dancer and as a factory worker. In 1920 he returned to Lisbon. In 1925 he produced two paintings for one of the most famous cafés in Lisbon,A Brasileira.In 1927 he went toMadridwhere he wrote for several Spanish publications, includingCronicaandLa Farsa.Around this same time he wroteEl Uno, tragédia de la Unidad.
Back in Portugal, in the following years his artistic production were wide and prolific as he became a key artist in Portuguese modern art, influenced byCubismand, mainly, by Futurism. His role duringAntónio de Oliveira Salazar'sauthoritarian regimewas however ambiguous, acting both as an "aligned" artist (doing public mural paintings or propaganda posters) and a provocative critic of Portuguese society of the time.
In 1934 he married painterSarah Afonso(13 May 1899 – 14 December 1983). Re-settled for good in Portugal, he would continue in his role as "artistic agitator" within the oppressed society that was Portugal until the time of his death. In 1934 the couple had their only son, José Afonso de Almada Negreiros.
He was also, if only occasionally, an actor and a dancer, understanding that all forms of art are intimately linked.
Painting and visual arts
editAlmada Negreiros always called himself a futurist artist, inspired by Filippo Tommaso Marinettiand other modern artists; however his style is wider, and does not fit easily into a category. Adding to this modern approach his works also revealed a decorative and arabesque richness, and sometimes a geometrical abstraction. His public art was often politically engaged, as his mural "Gare Maritima de Alcantara" shows. Many of his paintings and drawings show common people in daily affairs or attitudes usual in socialist art. His work as a visual artist extended to tapestry, printmaking, theater and ballet scenography.
Novels and writings
editAn important part of his artistic production was literary. Almada Negreiros wrote novels, poems, playwrights, essays and manifests that were, in his lifetime, published in books, magazines, newspapers or even low-cost booklets and flyers.
In his novels and playwrights the daily affairs of people appear between a sense of the absurd and non-sense that can be related to earlier writers likeEugène IonescoorArthur Adamov.His literary work is highly evolved with his artistic view, often visual and "geometric" in his descriptions and backgrounds.
His manifestos were highly provocative, like "Manifesto Anti-Dantas", a humorous and aggressive text againstJúlio Dantas,a major figure of arts and culture of Salazar's regime, which stands as a banner against mediocrity and conformism. He also wrote essays on the theory of colours, the Portuguese antique painting,geometryand gave numerous conferences on cultural matters.
Literary works
edit- O Moinho(1913)
- Os Outros(1914)
- 23, 2º Andar(1914)
- Frizos,published inOrpheuvol. 1, pp. 51–59 (prose) (1915)
- A Cena do Ódio(poetry) (1915)
- Manifesto Anti-Dantas e por extenso(1915)
- Litoral(1915)
- A Engomadeira(novel) (1915, published in 1917)
- Ultimatum Futurista, às gerações portuguezas do século XX(conference) (1917)
- K4, O Quadrado Azul(novel) (1917)
- Saltimbancos Contrastes Simultâneos(1917)
- A Invenção do Corpo(conference) (1921)
- O Cágado(1921)
- A Invenção do Dia Claro(1921)
- Histoire du Portugal par coeur(1922)
- Pierrot e Arlequim(theatre) (1924)
- Nome de Guerra(novel) (1925, published in 1938)
- A Questão dos Painéis(essay) (1926)
- El uno, tragedia de la unidad(composed ofDeseja-se MulherandS.O.S) (1928)
- Portugal, Direcção Única(1932)
- Elogio da Ingenuidade ou as Desventuras da Esperteza Saloia(1936)
- Mito-Alegoría-Símbolo, Monólogo autodidacta na oficina da pintura(1948)
References
edit- Fotobiografias do Século XX,Photobiography of Almada Negreiros, Círculo de Leitores.
