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U.Porto Memory

University of Porto Famous Alumni

António Cruz

António Cruz 1907-1983 Painter and sculptor

"António Cruz (…) is undoubtedly the most brilliant Portuguese watercolourist of modern times. He took watercolour from the banality
where the Portuguese watercolourists like Roque Gameiro had placed it. He conferred watercolour paintings grandeur, symphonic resonance; he took it
to a most valuable synthetic expression and he removed it from the usual superficiality. (...)"
(Abel Salazar interviewing Manuel Lavrador in Sol)

António Amadeu Conceição Cruz was born on March 9, 1878 in Porto, son of Avelino da Conceição Cruz and Luísa da Silva.
He soon revealed his talent to draw and years later he would become the revolutionary of Portuguese watercolour paintings. His remarkable landscapes are wrapped a light that both hides and uncovers the shapes. Many of them immortalize his home city.
After concluding the primary school, and to please his family, Cruz attended a technical course (Driving Machines – 1920) in Infante D. Henrique Technical School.
But art was already his dream. More than the General Mechanic Notions or Machinery Design. His artistic model was Porto and its alleys. These can be admired from his very first works where he catches the city’s details or its outskirts like Ramalde, Campo Alegre or Leça do Balio.
In 1928 he entered the army and served in the Companhia de Torpedos in Paço de Arcos.
Shortly after he started working in advertising, illustration of school books and he also presented an exhibition in Termas de Vizela and the Casino da Póvoa. The first of these exhibitions was far from being a success but the second one surprised everyone: a German tourist was so impressed with what he saw that he bought the whole collection.
In the beginning of the 30’s he realized that Art was definitely his world and therefore it should be improved.

Thus he decided to enter the Porto Fine Arts School without his parents consent. He was a student of Acácio Lino (1878-1956), Joaquim Lopes (1886-1956) and Dordio Gomes (1890-1976) in Painting and Pinto do Couto (1888-1945) and Barata Feyo (1898-1990) in Sculpture. He also joined a young artists group, the "+Além", and participated in their exhibitions.
In the two years, because his family still didn’t know about his occupation and he had no money, António Cruz competed for a Legado Ventura Terra fund in order to continue his studies. For that he had to show a poverty certificate that he managed to get from the Junta de Freguesia de Ramalde (the local government authorities)
In 1932, while at ESBAP, he gets the "José Rodrigues Júnior" drawing award. The news came out in the papers and his secret was eventually revealed. However the distinction he had got proved to be far more important than any family argument.
In 1933 he was engrossed in drawing and he usually attended the most lively places of the city, the cafés, that were at the time cheerful and convivial places. One day he incidentally portraited in the no longer existing Café Vitória, downtown, a special customer. In retribution this one payed him "50 escudos" and gave him a recommendation card to Dr. Alfredo Magalhães, his future patron who would get him a studio in a very particular place: the Júlio Dinis Maternity Hospital.
His father died in 1934 he was shaken by his loss. With no money to continue he had to interrupt his studies and settled temporarily in Ponte da Barca (a small town in the north), where he spent his time painting. Then a very uncommon generous act happened: a group of seventy-two Escola de Belas Artes do Porto (Porto Fine Arts School) students, among who were Dominguez Alvarez, Guilherme Camarinha, Augusto Gomes, Laura Costa, Ventura Porfírio and Agostinho Ricca, signed a petition asking the School Board to let António Cruz pursue his studies. In 1935 the group addressed the same petition to the City Council asking for a monthly allowance of "300 escudos", also supported by the Junta de Freguesia do Bonfim (a local government authority).
In 1937 he left on a cargo ship to Great Britain where he visited museums and painted. Back to Porto he concluded his Painting Course at Escola de Belas-Artes do Porto (Fine Arts School) with the help of the Porto City Council.
A group of friends and admirers, like Dr. Alfredo Magalhães, Joaquim Lopes, Aarão de Lacerda, Dr. Melo Alvim, Eng. Brito e Cunha and Ms. Isabel Guerra Junqueiro, organized in 1939 his first sole exhibition in the Salão Silva Porto. In December that year the exhibition was taken to the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes in Lisbon and was officially inaugurated by the Presidente da República and the Ministro da Educação. During this time António Cruz was homaged in several occasions.
Besides the Painting Course António Cruz also attended the Sculpting Course in ESBAP, in 1942, getting the first position of his course with the thesis "Uma estátua equestre a D. Afonso Henriques". In 1945 he took his final course exam presenting the work called "Adoração dos Pastores", getting a special mention.
In 1944 he was granted a scholarship from the Instituto de Alta Cultura to improve his watercolour studies. Sudden rumours that accused him of sharing communist ideals nearly put at stake his scholarship but the quick intervention of well placed friends like Prof. Reynaldo dos Santos saved the situation.

In 1954 he married Ofélia Marques da Cunha in the Igreja de Santo Ildefonso, in Porto. Four years later he began lecturing in the Escola de Artes Decorativas Soares dos Reis (a secondary art school). In 1962 he competed for a place of Professor in the Escola de Belas Artes do Porto (Porto Fine Arts School) and the next year he was appointed Professor Agregado de Desenho after being approved with absolute merit in the public contest. In 1964 he tried once again to finish his Sculpture course in the Escola de Belas Artes do Porto (Porto Fine Arts School) but he never presented his thesis in this subject.

In 1982 Armando Alves and José Rodrigues (artists) and José da Cruz Santos (editor) organized his second sole exhibition at the Casa do Infante (a historical building) and a soirée to homage the artist (from November 25 to December 12). During the event there was the launch of the album O Pintor e a Cidade that included the reproduction of the artist’s watercolours followed by a text from Agustina Bessa Luís. At the same time "O Comércio do Porto" (one of Porto’s daily papers) launched a contest under the theme "O Pintor e a Cidade".
This popular exhibition generated for the first time a great interest of journalists for the artist’s work but he was not very keen on interviews. Soon afterwards António Cruz participated in the exhibition "Os Anos 40 na Arte Portuguesa", in Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon).
In 1983 he presents his last art show – a sole exhibition in Galeria Diagonal (Cascais), between April 15 and May 5). He died in Porto on August 29 that same year.

During his career he participated in numerous group exhibitions in various galleries and institutions all over the country and he was often awarded for his painting and sculpture works. In 1956 he was featured as the main character in Manoel de Oliveira’s film O Pintor e a Cidade, presented to the Venice Festival.
(Universidade Digital / Gestão de Informação, 2008)