Jorge Barradas

Jorge Barradas

Jorge Barradas, Lisbon 1894 - 1971. 

The portuguese artist first works - explorations in caricatures and illustration, were very well received by the critics. As illustrator he collaborated in important newspapers and magazines, like “Ideia Nacional”, “Seara Nova” and “Ilustração Portuguesa”. 

His experience with the graphic arts led to his first works, characterized by a balance of color, textures and light, associated with the simple treatment of shapes. 

Jorge Barradas set a big connection between the naturalist inspiration and the fauve tendency in representations of Lisbon and its people. His most famous paintings portrayed washerwomen and  Lisbon street vendors, living their every day life. In his body of work, usually done in a big format, the linearity and simplification of the human bodies lives with contrast games of color and light, marked so deeply by the Fauvism. 

In the mid 40’s he extends his art to ceramic, producing decorative pieces. 

Still in the same decade he contributes do the decoration of the “A Brasileira” café and the “Bristol Clube” in Lisbon.