Fernando Lemos

Fernando Lemos (1926-2019) was a painter, sculptor, designer and poet. He began his artistic activity in the early 1950s, in the context of the Surrealist movement, when he turned more consistently to photography, having exhibited for the first time at Casa Jalco (1952) in Lisbon, together with Marcelino Vespeira and Fernando Azevedo. In 1953, he exhibited his photographic work alone at the Galeria de Março in Lisbon, in the exhibition Fotografia de Várias Coisas. His photographic work was practically created in seven years, between 1946 and 1952, within the framework of the Surrealist aesthetic and photographic lexicon, using themes and techniques typical of the movement, such as superimposition, double exposure, manipulation of the negative, solarisation, among others. In addition to his surrealist explorations, his photographic work as a whole includes abstract manifestations and represents a unique foray into photographic practice in the context of Portuguese Modernism. In 1953, disillusioned by the cultural and political situation in the country, he went into exile in Brazil, where he became a permanent resident. He devoted himself to painting, illustration, tapestry and design. In 1999, a group of his photographic works, donated by A. T. Kearney Portugal, entered the MNAC collection. T. Kearney Portugal, thus belatedly inaugurating the representation of photographic typology in its collections. He is represented in several national and international collections and will remain in the history of 20th century Portuguese art as one of its most avant-garde, versatile and talented representatives.
Source: MNAC/Chiado, Emília Tavares.