Artur Bual

Portuguese painter, sculptor and ceramist (1926-1999), he was a plastic artist who influenced determinately the art in Portugal in second half of the 20th century. He initiated as a landscape painter but evolved to more abstract languages – not leaving, however, the bond to the concrete visual reality, as it is demonstrated by his constant practise of portrayal. With expressionist strokes, sometimes intensely dramatic, he assumed himself as one of the greatest names of the gestural painting in Portugal. Gesturalism began in the Portuguese painting in 1958 with Artur Bual and it was in the work of this painter that it achieved, and still remains, its highest aesthetical expression.

Artur Bual held, throughout his career, several exhibitions in and outside Portugal. He is represented in several collections (such as: Lisbon courthouse, Centro de Arte Moderna of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, National Museums, Town Halls, Vocational Training Centre of Pegões, Regional Government of the Azores, among other) and between 1952 and 1997 collected several national and international prizes. He executed several frescoes in twelve chapels in Alentejo and Ribatejo.

www.circuloarturbual.pt