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U.Porto Memory

University of Porto Famous Alumni

José Rodrigues

José Rodrigues 1936-2016 Sculptor, designer and engraver

José Joaquim Rodrigues was born in Luanda, Angola, on 21 October 1936, the son of a couple from Alfândega da Fé, in Trás-os-Montes, Portugal.
His vocation for the arts showed very early in his life. His mother even used to say he would be a potter as he enjoyed moulding clay a lot.
After persuading his father to let him study in Portugal, he lived in Bragança district, with some relatives, and then at the age of fourteen he settled in Porto to study Fine Arts. He completed the Sculpture course in 1963 at the Porto School of Fine Arts, where he later taught.

In 1968, along with his colleagues Ângelo de Sousa, Armando Alves and Jorge Pinheiro, who like him completed the course with top marks, he formed the group Os Quatro Vintes. The name of the group used in the exhibitions of their work was inspired by the name of a popular cigarette packet brand - "Três Vintes"

In Porto, where he spend most of his time and said this is where he would die, he founded and chaired the Cooperativa de Ensino Artístico Árvore, a cultural reference in Porto since 1963. He also became attached to the Minho region, more precisely Vila Nova de Cerveira, where he recovered the São Paio Convent and helped promote the International Biennial Art Exhibition of Cerveira, established in 1978.

He exhibited his work since 1964 in cities such as Porto, Amarante, Alfândega da Fé, Vila Nova de Cerveira, Cascais, Tokyo, Paris and Macau. In Macau, he exhibited Sculptures and Drawings at the Leal Senado, in 1992.

He is the author of magnificent sculptures of angels, Christ and Salomé, and of other public art scattered all over the country (Porto, Viana do Castelo, Monção, Arcos de Valdevez, Vila Nova de Cerveira, Vila Real, Lisbon, etc.).

He participated in group exhibitions since 1973 in Portugal, Austria, Spain, Hungary, the USA, Germany, Luxembourg, Italy, Brazil, India and China, among other countries.

Besides sculpture, he was also dedicated to other forms of art. He illustrates the books of writers and poets, such as Eugénio de Andrade, Jorge de Sena, Vasco Graça Moura and Albano Martins. He produced ceramic work and medals for many entities, and even participated in the international exhibition FIDEM (1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996). He did scenography work – in Spain, he worked with the National Theatre Company of Galicia and the Madrid Theatre Company, and in Portugal with the Porto University Theatre Company, with Teatro Experimental do Porto, Seiva Trupe, Teatro Experimental de Cascais and Teatro D. Maria II, and in 1996 for Porto City Council, designing stage-settings for the ceremony during which Porto was classified as World Heritage.

He restored an old hatter's shop in Fábrica Social Street, in Santo Ildefonso, Porto, which he used as his workshop and converted it into the José Rodrigues Foundation, equipped with exhibition rooms and an auditorium.

He died on September 10, 2016, before reaching 80 years of age, at a time when the Municipality of Porto and the Foundation José Rodrigues where preparing tributes to the artist.

He is one of the most important names in the Portuguese plastic arts scene. His work is part of several private collections and institutions, in both Portugal and abroad. As a true artist, his work raised some controversy, for instance about the "Cubo" in Ribeira Square, dated 1983, and the monument to the Entrepreneur, dated 1992, which are today quite accepted and respected by the Porto population.
(Universidade Digital / Gestão de Informação, 2008)