7 facts about Nadir Afonso
the portuguese artist Nadir Afonso (1920-1965) was a pioneer in geometric abstraction in Portugal, being a fundamental figure for the modernism of this country. In an initial period of pictorial experimentation, through figurativism and the representation of the real, he went through a surrealist aesthetic that made the transition to abstractionism. This is how he discovered his attraction for geometric painting. The artist considered that art was not the result of imagination, but of observation and manipulation of form. In addition to painting, he worked in architecture, collaborating with architects such as Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer. His artistic production is unique and fundamental for the study of modernism in Portugal. Find out more about the artist in this article.
1.Nadir Afonso, son of the poet Artur Maria Afonso
Nadir Afonso Rodrigues was born in Chaves on December 4, 1920. Son of the poet Artur Maria Afonso, born in Montalegre, and Palmira Rodrigues, born in Boticas, and brother of Lereno and Fátima, he was about to be called Orlando, but, at the suggestion of a friend of the father, was registered under a name of Persian and Hebrew origin. Nadir means rare in Hebrew.
2. He graduated in architecture before taking up painting.
We know Nadir Afonso as a painter, however for large periods of his life he dedicated himself to architecture. After completing his secondary studies in Chaves, he left for Porto, in 1938, in order to enroll in the Painting course at the Porto School of Fine Arts, but, when enrolling, he was advised by the school official to forget about Painting. and opting for Architecture. He studied architecture at the Porto Superior School of Fine Arts and ended up working in this area. However, his passion for painting did not wane. Nadir continued to paint, having approached this technique through Dordio Gomes, through his participation in the exhibitions of the Grupo dos Independentes, or in the Missões Estéticas in Évora, being in 1940, his debut to exhibit. Later, he devoted himself exclusively to painting.
«When I went to Belas Artes in Porto, aged 18, I had my registration as a painter under my arm. I had the bad luck to face an employee who saw that I was coming from Chaves and said to me: “so, with the secondary school course, are you going to enroll in painting? Oh man! painting does not feed”. This 70 years ago. Cowardly, I accepted the suggestion: I tore up the registration in painting and applied for architecture… I took the course, went on to become an architect but I was always a disaster. I've been painting since I was 4 years old. I am competent in painting, but in the various activities that interest men, history, geography, politics. I just dedicated myself to trying to understand the laws of painting.” — Nadir Afonso
3. Collaborated in the atelier of the famous architect Le Corbusier
In 1946 he settled in Paris. In this city, he attended the École des Beaux-Arts, benefited from a scholarship from the French government, obtained through the intermediary of the Brazilian painter Portinari (1903-1962) and collaborated in the atelier of the famous architect Le Corbusier (pseudonym of Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris , 1887-1965). The following year, during the mornings, when he was excused from work at the architecture office, he worked on his canvases from the Baroque phase, which he painted, among other places, in the atelier of the French painter Fernand Léger (1881-1955). In 1948, he defended the thesis "Architecture is not an Art" at the ESBAP, supervised by Le Corbusier.
4. Author of important public works
He was the author of important public works such as the project for the Bakery of Chaves (a building of municipal interest and one of the 100 most significant works of Portuguese architecture of the 20th century), the panels for the Restauradores station of the Metropolitano de Lisboa (1996), a panel tile work for the Coina Railway Station (2006), a tile panel for the Boticas Town Hall (2009) and tile panels for the access tunnel to the beach in Cascais (2011).
5.Nadir Afonso – Time does not exist directed by Jorge Campos is an award-winning biographical film
Jorge Campos made the first film about his life and work for Radiotelevisão Portuguesa, which won the Gazeta da Televisão, Sampaio Bruno da Cultura and Honorable mention awards from the Press Club. Nadir Afonso – time does not exist is the objectification of disparate calls that harmonize. On the one hand, the cinematographic work is the consented response, therefore, previously felt, by the director Jorge Campos to a kind of inner call that was latent for nearly two decades. Designating it simply as the director's return to Nadir Afonso it is to reduce the creative harmonies that manifest themselves, in the unfolding of the film, before the gaze of the spectator-contemplator. On the other hand, the artist's creative process Nadir Afonso it is the visceral response to the inventive-creative call that the work claims. And the first difficulty for the director was knowing how to listen to these appeals, endogenous and exogenous, mirroring them harmoniously in the film. Jorge Campos masterfully realized that Nadir Afonso-artist is inseparable from Nadir Afonso-man, transforming the film camera into the safe escort of the imperative of authenticity.”
6. The work of Nadir Afonso is based on several periods
Nadir Afonso is the author of a singular work, structured in the international artistic context with consistent pioneering spirit and one of the most important artists in the art of the 20th and 21st centuries. Nadir Afonso defends in his art an aesthetic that presupposes the relationship of geometric laws, universal laws that exist in Nature, indispensable to achieving harmony, and the changing relationship of functions and needs that allow the determination of evolutionary laws, not specific to the work of art. This process is supported by reflection and theoretical-philosophical analysis, of its own formulation and the consequent practical work as a guiding principle for a rational methodology.
During his artistic career he had several periods: first modernity, surrealist period, baroque period, pre-geometric period, Egyptian period, espacillimité, ogival period, perspective period, anthropomorphic period, organicism, fractal period and geometric realism.
7. A museum was created in his name
The painter, who died in 2013, no longer saw the Museum of Contemporary Art with his name born in his hometown and receive part of his work. Inaugurated in 2016, it is located on the right bank of the Tâmega River, next to the São Roque Bridge. It is a space of cultural enjoyment of excellence, consisting of several spaces, temporary and permanent exhibition rooms, auditorium, archive, library and shop. A space of exceptional characteristics, modern and unique, to honor the genius of the flaviense painter Nadir Afonso.
