Almada? Minor arts?

To what extent, in the prolific work of Almada Negreiros, is it possible to demarcate artistic hierarchies?

Throughout his life, from the so-called 'major' to the 'minor' arts, or from the visual arts to other areas of expression such as writing or the performing arts, Almada managed to practice a production where these coherently coexisted, without necessarily subjugating each other, influencing each other. Which leads us to another question, is his work not a paradigmatic example of the rupture with academic classifications, a rupture that, announced since the 19th century, would found modern artistic thought?

Legend of the image:

Preparatory drawing by Almada Negreiros for the murals of the CTT de Aveiro station, in the holiday home of arq. Adelino Nunes, Rodízio, c.1947, detail from a photograph by Mário Novais (BA-FCG CFT003.025481)

Carlos Bártolo teaches Design and History of Design at Universidade Lusíada de Lisboa since 1995. Graphic designer with a master's degree in Equipment Design and a PhD in Design, focuses his studies in the area of the History of Design in Portugal, investigating the object of Design as a communication support, especially in extreme political environments.

CITAD Research Center in Territory, Architecture and Design – University Lusíada of Lisbon.

Researcher of the project “Iberian Modernisms and the Primitivist Imaginary” (PTDC / ART-HIS / 29837/2017) – co-funded by COMPETE 2020, Portugal 2020 and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund).