Who is it Manuel Cargaleiro?
Manuel Cargaleiro (1927), is one of the last painters to join the well-known Paris school and the lyrical abstractionist movement. His works can be found in various parts of the world, with a public work in Portugal at the Colégio Militar station, but also in Paris.In Italy, he fostered a special connection to the Italian city of Vietri Sul Mare, currently home to the Fondazione Museo Artistico Industriale. Manuel Cargaleiro. He continues to this day to work hard, still in Paris. Meet the master of lyrical abstractionism in this article.
The history ofManuel Cargaleiro
The Art of Ceramics invaded his life, right in his childhood, thanks to a neighbor who had a pottery and which aroused his curiosity. He went to Italy with a scholarship from the Italian state and, later, to France with a scholarship from the Gulbenkian, to stay and work at the Faiencerie de Gien ceramics factory. This location and the French capital itself gave him unique opportunities, at a time when Portugal was closed by the Salazar dictatorship. Paris was the center of culture and art during the 19th and 20th centuries, so many artists from different nationalities came together and shared ideas, being remembered by the denomination of Paris school. The Portuguese,Manuel Cargaleiro It is Vieira da Silva, were among the last artists to join this well-known school in Paris and also the last generation of the lyrical abstraction movement.
the work ofManuel Cargaleiro
In the early 1950s, he began to participate in shows and exhibitions in Portugal, and throughout his life he participated in numerous collective 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 charged with 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 base of everything.“
His abstract paintings demonstrate his feelings and observations naturally and effortlessly. In the imaginary cities series, he conveys his ideas by representing what he imagined to be happening in a city, after a long observation of it.
“Mainly, they are forms of joy and life expectancy, 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 for the work as a whole.” — Siza Vieira inManuel Cargaleiro, Life and Work, Cargaleiro Museum
In his tiles, the spontaneity of the brushstroke prevails, and in his paintings, an ornamental and decorative sense is distinguished, the option for two-dimensionality and the denial of depth. Proudly Portuguese, the influence of Portuguese traditions is denoted by the use of the tile language — repetition of quadrilaterals and the use of colors such as blue and white — but also Mediterranean, by representing the luminosity, optimism and sensuality characteristic of this area . Thus, the dialogues that 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 continued efforts, he was able to to create a striking language in the artistic world, through its abstract language using geometry and the combination of ceramics and painting, through games between color, light and shadow. In addition to painting and ceramics,Manuel Cargaleiro he also explored drawing, sculpture, tapestry and engraving.
“We see 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 a curiosity for nature, its forms and materials, its models and technical possibilities of representation — this reading gives us the essence of its procedure and attitude, opening the way for its creations.” — Joao Pinharanda