Nadir Afonso

Nadir Afonso Rodrigues Chaves was born on 4 December 1920.

In 1938 he joined the Architecture course at the School of Fine Arts in Porto. During these years painting Nadir evolved into a progressive abstraction.

He left for Paris in 1946, where he enrolled in the École des Beaux-Arts to study painting, and obtained by Portinari, a scholarship from the French government. Collaborated from 1946 until 1948 and again in 1951 with Le Corbusier. It was a project developed under the guidance of this which formed the basis of the thesis The architecture is not an art, which defended the harbor in 1948. Parallel, worked in painting, serving up the studio of Fernand Léger.

In late 1951 he moved to Brazil, where he worked in the following years, with Oscar Niemeyer. In late 1954 he was back in Paris. Participated in the movement of kinetic art, exhibiting at the Denise René gallery in 1956 and 1957 and with legal Vasarely, Herbin and Mortensen. In this context sends the Espacillimité series, which showed at the Salon des Nouvelles Réalités 1958 published the work of aesthetic reflection Sensibilité La Plastique (Paris: Presses du Temps Présent, 1958).. At the forefront of the art world, presented in following his first major anthology exhibition at the Maison des Beaux-Arts in Paris year.

He represented Portugal in the Sao Paulo Biennial in Brazil in 1961 and in 1969.

In 1967 he received the National Prize for Painting and, two years later, the Prix Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation dedicated a retrospective exhibition was presented in 1970 at the Centre Culturel Anglais in Paris and later in Lisbon. In the same year in Neuchatel and published exposes Les de la Création Artistique mécanismes (Neuchâtel: Editions du Griffon, 1970). In 1974 he exhibited in New York (Selected Artists Galeries). In the 2003 film Nadir, authored by Jorge Campos was held for Portuguese television.

Featured artist at the XII International Biennial of Cerveira (2003), where he presented an anthology exhibition, and in the 2nd International Fair of Estoril, where he was awarded the Prix Nadir Afonso (2004). In 2010, a major exhibition of his work, curated by Adelaide Ginga, the National Museum Soares dos Reis, Porto and then at the National Museum of Contemporary Art Chiado, Lisbon was performed. The Museum of the Presidency dedicated a retrospective exhibition.

Awarded grades Official (1984) and Grand Officer (2010) of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword. Doctor Honoris Causa by the University Lusiada, Lisbon (2010).

Nadir has developed an extensive visual and theoretical work centered on the quest for the Absolute in Art publishing several books. About The Book About Life and Work of Van Gogh (Chaves Ferreira Publications, 2002) was selected for Best Book of Art Fair Frankfurt 2003 and to appear in the Book Museum in Leipzig.

In 2012 is presented in St. John the movie theater in Port Nadir Afonso: Weather Does not Exist Jorge Campos.

Public Collections (selection)

Centre George Pompidou, Paris, France

Berardo Collection of Contemporary Art, Lisbon, Portugal

Collection CGD, Lisbon, Portugal

Collection CitiBank, New York, USA

Collection JP Morgan Chase, New York, USA

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal

Millennium bcp Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal

Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo, Brazil

Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

National Museum of Contemporary Art Chiado, Lisbon, Portugal

National Museum Soares dos Reis, Porto, Portugal

Im Kulturspeicher Museum, Würzburg, Germany

Szépmüvészeti Muzeum, Budapest, Hungary

Bibliography (selection)

- La Sensibilité Plastique; Presses du Temps Present, Paris, 1958.

- Les de la Création Artistique mécanismes; Editions du Griffon, Neuchatel, Switzerland, 1970 (Published in French, English and German Edition).

- Aesthetic Synthesis; Issues with Alvarez Selected Artists Galleries, New York, 1974.

- Le Sens de L'Art; National press, Lisbon, 1983.

- Monograph Collection Contemporary Art; Bertrand Editora, Lisbon, 1986.

- From the Life Work of Nadir Afonso; Bertrand Editora, Lisbon, 1990.

- Monograph; Bial, Harbor, 1994.

- Monograph Nadir Afonso; Horizon Books, Lisbon, 1998.

- Work Engraved Nadir Afonso; Issues Coelho Dias, Lisbon, 1999.

- The Meaning of Art; Horizon Books, Lisbon, 1999.

- Universe and Thought; Horizon Books, Lisbon, 2000.

- The Port of Nadir; Issues Coelho Dias, Lisbon, 2000.

- About Life and Work About Van Gogh; Publications Chaves Ferreira, Lisbon, 2002.

- From the Artistic Intuition Aesthetic Reasoning; Publications Chaves Ferreira, Lisbon, 2003.

- The Fascination of Cities; Municipality of Cascais and D. Luis I, Cascais Foundation, 2003.

- The Arts: Mistaken Beliefs and False reviews; Publications Chaves Ferreira, Lisbon, 2005 (Bilingual Ed: Portuguese and English).

- Nadir Afonso: The Future Renaissance; Coordination Sara Silva, Dinalivro, Lisbon, 2008.

- Nadir Face to Face with Einstein; Publications Chaves Ferreira, Lisbon, 2008 (Bilingual Ed: Portuguese and English).

- Nadir Afonso: Itinerary (with) sense; Coordination Agostinho Santos, Afrontamento, Port 2009 (Ed. trilingual: Portuguese, English and Spanish)..

- Manifesto: The Time Does not Exist; Dinalivro, Lisbon, 2010 (Bilingual Ed: Portuguese and English)..

- Universe and Thought; Afrontamento, Port 2010

- The Artistic Work. Reflections; Issues Athena (seal of Babel), Lisbon 2011.

- Nadir Afonso: Conversation with Saints Augustine; Anchor Editions, Lisbon 2012.