Lourdes Castro - Litho - Sold

Lithograph of Lourdes Castro. Dimensions including passe-partout: H42 x W32cm. Dimensions representation: H22 x W20cm. The work is signed in the print by the artist. The work comes from Derrière le Miroir.


When purchasing, the work can be picked up in 's-Gravenzande (near The Hague (Scheveningen), Rotterdam and Delft and 5 minutes from the beach). The term for collection, if paid in advance, is very long, in other words, the buyer can collect the work weeks or even months later and, if possible, combine it with a visit to one of the aforementioned cities or the beach. We can also send the work via Postnl. Our shipping days are Tuesday and Thursday.

Maria de Lourdes Bettencourt de Castro ComSE (December 9, 1930 – January 8, 2022) was a Portuguese artist from Funchal, Madeira. After specializing in abstract art, she made collages and serigraphs in the 1960s to capture ephemeral reality. From the 1970s, she developed shadow puppets for her Shadow Theater with her partner Manuel Zimbro, gaining acclaim throughout Europe and Brazil. In 1998, together with Francisco Tropa, she created an installation for Portugal's contribution to the São Paulo Art Biennale.


Biography
Born on December 9, 1930 in Funchal, Lourdes Castro studied at the School of Fine Arts in Lisbon. Where she never graduated due to 3 paintings rejected by a teacher at the time. Her first solo exhibition at the Clube Funchalense in 1955 showcased her early works influenced by Fauvism. When she married her fellow student René Bertholo [pt] (1935-2005), she presented an exhibition with him at the Galeria Diário de Notícias in Lisbon in 1957.

They then spent some time together in Munich before moving to Paris in 1958, thanks to a grant Castro received from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. There the pair published the experimental art magazine KWY (1958–1963), starting a movement that included Bulgarian Christo Vladimirov Javacheff, German Jan Voss, and Portuguese artists including António Costa Pinheiro [pt], José Escada, João Vieira, and Gonçalo Duarte. Together they specialized in screen printing.

Inspired by Árpád Szenes, Castro concentrated on abstract painting, but in 1961 he followed the Nouveaux Réalistes and created collages consisting of real objects such as press letters or bottle caps in silver-painted boxes. In 1962 she started working with shadows and silhouettes, often in portraits of her friends. In 1964 she expanded on this approach with layers of screen-printed or transparent acrylic.

Beginning in 1973, Castro teamed up with her lifelong partner Manuel Zimbro, creating shadow theater shows that were widely presented in South America and Europe. In 1972 and 1979 she was a guest on the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program. After living in Paris for 25 years, she moved back to Funchal in 1983. In 1998 she collaborated with Francisco Tropa on an installation for the São Paulo Biennale.

Castro died in Funchal on January 8, 2022, at the age of 91. Portugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa expressed regret over the death of Castro, whom he described as "one of the most undeniable Portuguese artists".