The foundation Júlio Pomar, created twenty years ago to store and publicize the work of the artist who died in 2018, will close by the end of the year, and will leave the artistic heritage to the Atelier-Museu in Lisbon, according to the president, Alexandre Pomar.
Contacted by the Lusa agency, the artist's 76-year-old son said that he had been "accumulating responsibilities and functions" over two decades, in addition to managing the artistic heritage valued at five million euros, publishing books and creating exhibitions.
The news was reported by the Público newspaper on Friday, in connection with an interview carried out as part of the launch of a book that Alexandre Pomar wrote about his father's work, entitled "Júlio Pomar. After the New Realism", by the publisher Guerra & Paz.
"There are several reasons [for the extinction of the Foundation Júlio Pomar]. I have been in charge [of management] for a long time, and it was not possible to find administrators to be able to continue", the president told Lusa, adding that he intends to retire and leave the artistic heritage to the Atelier-Museu, opened in 2013 in historic center of Lisbon.
On the other hand, "the foundation already had a very small scale", initially still with one employee and with annual support from Caixa Geral de Depósitos and the insurance company Fidelidade, but "with the financial restrictions of the time of the 'troika' [when the country made a request for external financial aid] completely ended", he recalled.
The foundation Júlio Pomar was created in 2004 to accept donations of the artist's work, which happened at various times, notably in 2014, when while still alive the author donated around 300 works to the foundation bearing his name, including paintings, sculptures, drawings and engravings. This set included, among others, the oils "Mulheres na Lota", from 1951, "Ponte de D. Luiz", from 1962, "Estudo em Vermelho", from 1964, in acrylic and pastel on canvas, "Mariza" , from 2011, and "Fernando Pessoa e Alfredo Marceneiro", from the same year.
At the foundation, which also organized some exhibitions outside of Lisbon, Alexandre Pomar published three books and managed the copyright of his father, one of the reference artists in the History of Portuguese Art in the 20th and early 21st centuries.
"We had no way of connecting the foundation to companies and political or financial figures who might be interested in contributing and directing it. Furthermore, there are artists with great fortunes, with expensive public works, but Júlio Pomar [1926-2018] was not one of those, and he had no side jobs. He lived solely from his work as an artist", said the president.
The foundation sold graphic work, various 'merchandising', and copyrights, but the annual income "was small and it was not enough to have a professionalized administration or have employees", recalled Alexandre Pomar, highlighting that his work "has nothing to do with the Atelier-Museu, created by the intention of the Lisbon City Council, which pays employees and management", with its own management, led by curator Sara Antónia Matos.
The artistic heritage as a result of donations from Júlio Pomar, owned by the widow, Tereza Martha, and Alexandre Pomar, is valued at around five million euros, he indicated. "According to the statutes, what was foreseen is that, when the foundation is extinguished, the ownership of the donated works passes to the Atelier-Museu and to the chamber" of Lisbon, including the collection, documentation archive, catalogues, clippings and merchandising'.
Alexandre Pomar's expectation is that "Lisbon City Council will maintain its interest in the museum and in promoting the work of an artist who played a historical role at various times", and that the entity will "continue its life" as it has been until now.
Júlio Pomar recalled that the project - which took more than ten years to come to fruition - received the "support of several executives, of various political colors", namely mayors João Soares, Pedro Santana Lopes, Carmona Rodrigues and António Costa himself.
SOURCE: culturaaominuto