João Cutileiro

João Cutileiro (Lisbon, 1937-2021) lived and worked in Évora, where some of his works have been exhibited since 1985. As a young man, he visited artists' studios, including those of Jorge Barradas and António Duarte, and chose to study sculpture at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts, which he abandoned to go to the Slade School of Fine Art in London. He returned to Portugal in the 1960s, subverting the canons of Estado Novo statuary and intervening in public space with experimental urban art projects. His Monument to 25 April in Parque Eduardo VII, Lisbon, stands out. Intimacy, eroticism and love are the main themes of his marble sculptures. The sculpture of D. Sebastião in Lagos, which challenged the Estado Novo in 1970, was his most controversial work. In 1990, a retrospective of his work was held at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.