Centro de Arte Manuel de Brito, CAMB, Palácio dos Anjos, Algés, Portugal Material: Oil on canvas Collection: Manuel de Brito BIOGRAPHY Júlio Pomar was born in Lisbon in 1926. He attended the Secondary Art School António Arroio in Lisbon, where he studied along with other future artists and writers such as Marcelino Vespeira, Mário Cesariny, Fernando de Azevedo, Pedro Oom (1926-1974), José Gomes Pereira (1900-1985) and Artur Cruzeiro Seixas. In 1942 he was accepted at the Fine Arts Academy in Lisbon. After an exhibition in which he participated with other colleagues in their shared studio in the Rua das Flores, he sold one of his paintings to Almada Negreiros, who exhibited it in the National Propaganda Secretary’s VII Exposition of Modern Art. In 1944 he changed to the Fine Arts Academy of Oporto, due to the discrimination to which former students from the António Arroio school were subjected to in Lisbon. There he joined a group of artists – Fernando Lanhas, Júlio Resende, Amândio Silva (1923-2000) – who organized the Independent Exhibitions, which took place in several venues between 1943 and 1950. In 1945 he was responsible for the weekly chronicle “An Arte” in Porto’s daily newspaper A Tarde. His participation in the State-organized IX Aesthetic Holiday Mission, in Évora, results in the painting O Gadanheiro [The Harvester], ex-libris of Portuguese neo-realism, exhibited in Lisbon at the National Society of Fine Arts (SNBA). Following this exhibition, Mário Dionísio (1916-1993), the main neo-realist theorist, noted the emergence of “a great painter” and followed Júlio Pomar’s work from then on, publishing criticism, books and collaborating with the artist throughout his life through essays written for joint projects. Still, in the same year, Júlio Pomar joined the youth wing of the Communist Party and took part in the subsequent Juvenile Movement of Democratic Unity (MUD-J). During this period he shared a home with another important neo-realist theorist, Ernesto de Sousa (1921-1988), who over the following years wrote articles about the artist's paintings and, already in 1960, his first monograph. Pomar was one of the mentors, along with Mário Dionísio, of the General Arts Exhibition at the SNBA, which occurred until 1956 as an alternative to the regime's official exhibitions and in which he exhibited every year. In 1947 he was arrested by the New State's secret police (PIDE), along with the entire MUD-J direction. Nonetheless, some of his most emblematic neo-realist work was still exhibited in the General Arts Exhibition at the National Society of the Fine Arts (SNBA) of that same year, such as Almoço do Trolha [The Bricklayer's Lunch] (unfinished) and the confiscated Resistência [Resistance]. In 1948 the government ordered the destruction of the 100 m2 mural painting he had executed for the Cinema Batalha in Oporto. He made a living from illustrations, ceramics and decorative work, and continued to collaborate with publications linked to the neo-realist movement. Until 1979, only one of his work entered a public collection in Portugal: Menina com o Galo Morto [Girl with a Dead Cock] from 1948, bought by the Museum of Contemporary Art (Lisbon) in 1953, through the intermediation of its director Diogo de Macedo. In 1950 he went on his first trip to Madrid and, in 1953, following the so-called "Rice Cycle", an expedition to the rice fields of the Ribatejo organized by Alves Redol (1911-1969) with the intent of being immersed into the harsh reality of farming labor, Pomar's paintings attained a greater rigor, following more closely realists anti-expressive prescriptions. However, this phase was short-lived, for in 1957, after a trip to Paris, Pomar's painting style changed, leaving neo-realism behind while recuperating simultaneously Goya’s influence and his experience of the 1950's in illustration, exploring a quick, free and economical brushstroke. His 1957 work Maria da Fonte shows this newly found and powerfully expressive technique, which remained in his paintings throughout the following years. In 1956 he was one of the founders of the graphic arts cooperative Gravura. He moved to Paris permanently in 1963, receiving a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation from 1964 until 1966. The themes Pomar covered in his painting range from literature and popular traditions (from the gulfweed harvests to bullfighting) to the current affairs of his time, such as the May of 1968 protests, maintaining, all along, a dialogue with the great masters of the past (Uccello, Ingres, Courbet, van Eyck, Matisse), intersected with an eroticism that dominates his work in the 70’s. In 1967 he produced several assemblages, based on his prior experiments with sculpture; a technique he re-visited in the 70’s. The characteristics of acrylic paint, which he began to work with toward the end of the 60’s, once again change the direction of his work, now dominated by primary colours applied in the block, without transparencies or graduation. He also experimented with collage techniques, commenting on Matisse through his use of cut-up painted canvas pieces as well as other materials, such as hair and paper. In 1974 he was one of the 48 artists who participated in the painting of the 10th of July mural, a collective art manifestation in celebration of the April revolution of that year. His recognition and significance never ceased to grow in the following years, participating in all representations of Portuguese art abroad. Besides the illustration of books and a continuous dialogue with writers and texts in his paintings, he was also the author of several sets for theatre, tapestries, decorative projects for architecture and texts, from criticism to poetry, with Discours sur la Cecité du Peintre (1985) and Et la Peinture? (2000) deserving particular emphasis. From 1983 onwards he lives in Paris and Lisbon. In that year he undertook the project for the tiles design of the metro station Alto dos Moinhos (Lisbon). His voyages always influenced his themes and palette, and the two months he spent among the people of the Amazon's Alto Xingú in 1988 inspired the painter during several years, with intermittent returns to a thematic that was simultaneously a re-encounter with Gauguin. In 1990 he was chosen by the then President of Portugal, Mário Soares, to produce the official portrait of the head of state, in which he broke with the hieratic formalism of official portraiture with a painting in which the quick and free brushstrokes depict his friend gesticulating, carefree and active. His long career counts in numerous exhibitions in Portugal and abroad, as well as several distinctions, among them from the International Association of Art Critics (AICA-SEC, 1994), the CELPA/Vieira da Silva award (2000) and the Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso award (2003). He refused an honorary distinction from President Ramalho Eanes and received a decoration from President Mário Soares (but he did not collect it personally), the Order of Liberty from President Jorge Sampaio, as well as the honorary distinction “Des Arts et des Lettres” from the French government. He has been the object of several anthological exhibitions; among the most recent should be mentioned the exhibit Autobiography at the Berardo Museum, Sintra, in 2004, and the exhibit Chain of Connection, at the Serralves Museum, Oporto, in 2008, which confronted works from different phases of Pomar's career. MPS May 2010 SOURCE: gulbenkian.pt/museu/en/artist/julio-pomar-2/
The winter chill that takes everyone by surprise in December has dug its teeth deep by January (unless of course you are enjoying sunny summers in the southern hemisphere). Our…
The mono de calenda is a giant puppet used in the fiestas or calendas of the state of Oaxaca. These are controlled from the inside by a dancer, can come in different sizes, and are usually dressed in typical clothing of the region.
El Conde de Salchichón ya está en Zaragoza para animarnos a disfrazarnos y disfrutar del Carnaval El sábado se celebrará el Gran Desfile de Carnaval, que partirá desde la plaza San Miguel hasta la plaza del Pilar. Al día siguiente será el turno del Carnaval Infantil, con un pasacalles y una verbena Los actos comenzarán este jueves con el tradicional reparto de longaniza, mientras que los personajes del Carnaval zaragozano visitarán el Barrio Oliver, La Jota y Puerto Venecia El Carnaval se acerca y el Conde de Salchichón ya ha llegado a Zaragoza para invitar a los zaragozanos a disfrazarse y disfrutar. Lo ha hecho esta mañana en el Colegio Escuelas Pías, donde lo han acogido sus alumnos y profesores junto a la consejera de Cultura, Educación y Turismo, Sara Fernández. Un Carnaval que se irá extendiendo por la ciudad a través de los 41 colegios que participarán en las actividades para conocer a los personajes tradicionales de nuestra ciudad y que llegará a los barrios. Aunque el plato fuerte será el Gran Desfile de Carnaval de este sábado, las celebraciones comenzarán con el tradicional reparto de longaniza del Jueves Lardero. Desde las 18,30 h, todas las personas que lo deseen podrán acercarse a la plaza Miguel Merino para recibir su ración. La música vendrá de la mano de la Orquesta Venus, con la verbena que se celebrará en la Sala Multiusos del Auditorio de Zaragoza Princesa Leonor desde las 19 horas y hasta las 21,30 h. El Conde de Salchichón y sus compañeros, el Caballero de la Hornilla, Don Carnal y Doña Cuaresma visitarán este viernes el Centro Cívico Manuel Vázquez Guardiola (Oliver) a las 18 h en el primer acto del Carnaval Infantil, que el sábado llegará al Centro Comercial Puerto Venecia a las 12 horas y hará su aparición en el Centro Cívico Distrito 14 (La Jota) ese mismo día a las 18 h. Pero no será hasta el sábado a las 18,30 h cuando se libere al Rey de Gallos, el encargado de animar el carnaval con su colorido traje y sus bromas. Lo hará en la plaza San Miguel, donde media hora antes se darán cita las Comparsas que participarán en el Gran Desfile de Carnaval, organizado por la Federación Interpeñas y Federación Unión Peñista de Zaragoza junto al Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza. El recorrido comenzará en la plaza San Miguel, seguirá por Coso, plaza España y calle Alfonso para terminar en la plaza del Pilar. Para los más pequeños los actos se alargarán hasta el domingo por la mañana, con la gran fiesta del Carnaval Infantil. El primero en unirse a la fiesta será el Tragachicos, ataviado para la ocasión con una máscara, que estará en la plaza del Pilar a las 10 h y hasta las 15 h. La comparsa de Gigantes, la Mojiganga y los personajes de Carnaval, el Conde de Salchichón y sus adláteres, el Caballero de la Hornilla, Don Carnal y Doña Cuaresma se reunirán a las 12 h en la calle Alfonso para comenzar el pasacalles que terminará en la plaza del Pilar. Allí los estará esperando la verbena infantil 'Carnaval' de los Titiriteros de Binéfar, que comenzará a las 12,30 h. MÚSICA Y JUEGOS PARA DESCUBRIR EL CARNAVAL Los niños y niñas zaragozanos se prepararán para esta festividad con actividades y juegos que les darán a conocer los personajes del Carnaval zaragozano: el Conde de Salchichón, la Mojiganga, Don Carnal y Doña Cuaresma, el Caballero de la Hornilla y el Rey de Gallos. 9.677 alumnos de Infantil y primer ciclo de Primaria de 41 colegios de nuestra ciudad participarán en las actividades didácticas, en las que la música y los instrumentos tradicionales aragoneses serán los protagonistas. Para ello se repartirán 479 packs de material didáctico, que incluirán 10 fichas de actividades, una foto de la Comparsa de los personajes del Carnaval para colocar en las aulas y un QR para acceder al disco 'El mundo al revés' de los Titiriteros en Binéfar (grabado en 2007 en el Laboratorio Audiovisula del Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza), que pondrá el fondo musical. También se podrá acceder a través de la web www.carnavalzaragoza.es, donde se incluyen además varias recetas para celebrar el Jueves Lardero y el Carnaval. AFECCIONES AL TRÁFICO El Gran Desfile de Carnaval interrumpirá el servicio de tranvía este sábado desde las 18,45 h hasta las 21,30 h aproximadamente en el tramo comprendido entre Plaza de España y Murallas. Igualmente, habrá desvíos puntuales de los buses urbanos cuyo recorrido coincida con el del desfile desde las 16,30 h en la plaza San Miguel y adyacentes. A esta misma hora se realizará el corte de tráfico de la plaza San Miguel hasta que termine la salida de las comparsas. También se producirán cortes de tráfico en el recorrido del desfile hasta la finalización del acto a las 22 h. Por su parte, el pasacalles del Carnaval Infantil obligará a cortar al tráfico el Coso y la calle Alfonso el domingo desde las 9 h y hasta el final del desfile. #CarnavalZGZ #ZGZCultura #gastroturismozgz12 #GASTRONOMÍAENZARAGOZA
