The Master Died Manuel Cargaleiro, the artist who "never let cosmopolitanism mean uprooting"
The news was announced in a note published on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic, in which Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa "expresses his condolences for the death of Mestre Cargaleiro". "The President of the Republic will never forget the last meeting with Mestre Cargaleiro, a few weeks ago, at his home in Lisbon, where he continued to dream of projects for the future and to believe in Life, always honoring Portugal", reads the same note.
Manuel Cargaleiro (1927), is one of the last painters to be part of the well-known Paris school and the lyrical abstraction movement. His works can be found in various places around the world, including a public work in Portugal at the military school station and also in Paris. In Italy, he had a special connection with the Italian city of Vietri Sul Mare, currently the headquarters of the Fondazione Museo Artistico Industriale Manuel Cargaleiro. He continues to work hard to this day, still in Paris. Get to know the master of lyrical abstractionism in this article.
The art of ceramics invaded his life as a child, thanks to a neighbour who had a pottery and who aroused his curiosity. He went to Italy with a scholarship from the Italian state and, later, to France with a scholarship from Gulbenkian, to work at the Faiencerie de Gien ceramics factory. This place and the French capital itself gave him unique opportunities, at a time when Portugal was closed by the Salazar dictatorship. Paris was the centre of culture and art during the 19th and 20th centuries, so many artists of different nationalities came together and shared ideas, being remembered by the name of the Paris school. The Portuguese, Manuel Cargaleiro and Vieira da Silva, They were among the last artists to join this well-known Paris school and also the last generation of the lyrical abstraction movement.
In the early 1950s, he began to participate in exhibitions in Portugal, and throughout his life he participated in numerous group and individual exhibitions all over the world, from cities such as Geneva, Milan, Lausanne, Paris, Brasília, Lisbon, Portalegre to Reims. His pictorial language was strongly marked by the use of geometry and abstract language, tending to be non-figurative, with spontaneous and dynamic brushstrokes. The exploration of color is one of the main characteristics of his work, as it reveals feelings and creates different spaces in a single composition. His works are full of blue, according to the artist himself: “the blue of the sea, the blue of the sky, is the color of introspection. Blue for me is the basis of everything.”
His abstract paintings express his feelings and observations naturally and effortlessly. In the series of imaginary cities, he conveys his ideas by depicting what he imagines to be happening in a city after observing it for a long time.
“Mainly, they are forms of joy and hope in life, islands of happiness that Cargaleiro cultivates in a dimension and persistence that is rarely found in Portuguese artistic production; which, in any case, in no other artist, constitutes the center of creative action and the axis of meaning of the work as a whole.” — Siza Vieira in Manuel Cargaleiro, Life and Work, Cargaleiro Museum
In his tiles, the spontaneity of the brushstrokes prevails, and in his paintings, an ornamental and decorative sense is distinguished, the option for two-dimensionality and the denial of depth. Proudly Portuguese, he shows the influence of Portuguese traditions through his use of the language of tiles — the repetition of quadrilaterals and the use of colours such as blue and white — but also Mediterranean ones, by representing the luminosity, optimism and sensuality characteristic of this region. Thus, the dialogues he establishes with the tradition of artisanal knowledge and the history of art of his time are strongly implicit in the genesis of his work. Through his continuous effort, he managed to create a striking language in the artistic world, through his abstract language using geometry and the combination of ceramics and painting, through the interplay between colour, light and shadow. In addition to painting and ceramics, Manuel Cargaleiro He also explored drawing, sculpture, tapestry and engraving.
“We perceive in his work a constant attention to the world around him. It is an attitude that characterizes his way of being and Manuel Cargaleiro expresses it as curiosity about nature, its forms and materials, its models and technical possibilities of representation — this reading gives us the essence of his procedure and attitude, opening the way for his creations.” — João Pinharanda
The Portuguese artist Manuel Cargaleiro created a striking language in the artistic world by combining ceramics and painting, through interplays between color, light and shadow. His works are strongly characterized by the use of geometry and abstract language, tending to be non-figurative with spontaneous and dynamic brushstrokes full of vibrant colors, which overlap the form, reducing the formality that characterizes the geometric elements. The exploration of color is one of the main characteristics of his work, as it reveals feelings and creates different spaces in a single composition. The influence of traditional Portuguese tiles is evident, through the repetition of quadrilaterals and the use of colors such as blue and white. In addition to painting and ceramics, Manuel Cargaleiro also explored drawing, sculpture, tapestry and engraving. Find out more about Manuel Cargaleiro in this article.