journal
17 / 10 / 2016
The São Mamede Gallery, in Lisbon, inaugurates the 20th October an important exhibition by Charrua, where it will be presented his painting and drawing work that already took part during the exhibition at the Gulbenkian Museu in 2015.
The versatile Charrua artist developed, through different languages and formats, a vocabulary mainly abstractionist, influenced by the european and american Expressionism.
António Charrua was born in 1925 in Lisbon, attended the Engineering Course of the University of Sciences in 1944 and the Architecture Course of the University of Fine Arts in 1950, but never finished any of them. The big moment of transformation in his life happened when he found out Vincent Van Gogh’s work, in 1945, and Picasso’s some years later. A real fascination for the 2 fathers of modern art changed his life and etablished his path, somewhere among the abstract expressionism.
Having started with a more figurative work, as others artists did, he also experienced engraving and it was with this tecnhique that he started to win critics’ admiration at the end of the 50s. Thanks to 3 scholarship conceived by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, he traveled a lot and acquired several influences, not only in his paintings, but also in the philosophical literature.
From Rauscenberg to the catalan informalism. Charrua mentioned several art movements and was close the aesthetic of different artists, but always had a very distinctive work. Colors and strong contrasts, giving a sense of motion, but always with a structure and a big background. The artist was fascinated by Mondrian and his ability to control colors and lines as an absolute truth, and then, he developed a kind of absolute truth for his paitings, by using forms, colors and gestures, creating signals and symbols. A formal alphabet of Charrua in which “X”, the pyramid, and the “T” belong.
Charrua’s work continues to growth and be recognized after his death, in 2008, as we proved with his last exhibition, "X de Charrua - 19.06.15 - 25.10.15", presented by the Calouste Gulbenkian Museu min 2015. Nowadays, this exhibition offers the possibility to enjoy those art pieces, but also to take them home. It is possible to visit it until the 15th November.
The versatile Charrua artist developed, through different languages and formats, a vocabulary mainly abstractionist, influenced by the european and american Expressionism.
António Charrua was born in 1925 in Lisbon, attended the Engineering Course of the University of Sciences in 1944 and the Architecture Course of the University of Fine Arts in 1950, but never finished any of them. The big moment of transformation in his life happened when he found out Vincent Van Gogh’s work, in 1945, and Picasso’s some years later. A real fascination for the 2 fathers of modern art changed his life and etablished his path, somewhere among the abstract expressionism.
Having started with a more figurative work, as others artists did, he also experienced engraving and it was with this tecnhique that he started to win critics’ admiration at the end of the 50s. Thanks to 3 scholarship conceived by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, he traveled a lot and acquired several influences, not only in his paintings, but also in the philosophical literature.
From Rauscenberg to the catalan informalism. Charrua mentioned several art movements and was close the aesthetic of different artists, but always had a very distinctive work. Colors and strong contrasts, giving a sense of motion, but always with a structure and a big background. The artist was fascinated by Mondrian and his ability to control colors and lines as an absolute truth, and then, he developed a kind of absolute truth for his paitings, by using forms, colors and gestures, creating signals and symbols. A formal alphabet of Charrua in which “X”, the pyramid, and the “T” belong.
Charrua’s work continues to growth and be recognized after his death, in 2008, as we proved with his last exhibition, "X de Charrua - 19.06.15 - 25.10.15", presented by the Calouste Gulbenkian Museu min 2015. Nowadays, this exhibition offers the possibility to enjoy those art pieces, but also to take them home. It is possible to visit it until the 15th November.
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