FERNANDO LEMOS AND JAPAN REVIEWED AT GULBENKIAN
The approach and review of the work that the multidisciplinary Portuguese-Brazilian artist Fernando Lemos (Lisbon, Portugal, 1926 - São Paulo, Brazil, 2019) made in the framework of his relationship with Japan is the reason for the exhibitions that two centers of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation dedicate to his figure. It is worth remembering here that both of them transit in the Japanese concept that stands as the central axis of the new headquarters of the Centro de Arte Moderno, recently inaugurated, and on which the dialogue between both curatorial proposals pivots.
O Calígrafo Ocidental. Fernando Lemos e o Japão (The Western Calligrapher. Fernando Lemos and Japan) brings together an extensive collection of works, mostly photographs and drawings by the artist, hitherto unpublished in Portugal. A large part of this production is set during the stay that Lemos enjoyed in Japan, a country he arrived in 1962, precisely, after receiving a scholarship from the Gulbenkian Foundation to study Japanese calligraphy and art. In his daily life, the artist tried to compile the Japanese daily life and how it had a radical influence on his proposal.
Organized in six different sections, the exhibition incites to enjoy drawing as something more than a mere technique, elevating it, in his case, to a calligraphic act that seeks its space in a society built around the human and the architectural. The relationship between the drawings and photographs that make up this exhibition act with some of his other works made in different media, but also with Japanese prints and production of other artists in the collection of the institution and that have been arranged for their interrelation.
This exhibition is complemented by Espólio de Fernando Lemos (Fernando Lemos’ Documentary Collection), a compilation of documents about his experience in Japan selected from Fernando Lemos's personal archive and donated to the institution in 2023. Part of the bibliographic and archival interest lies, especially, in Lemos's participation in the Brazilian Pavilion at the 5th Tokyo International Trade Fair Exhibition, as responsible for the graphic design of the interiors and the materials distributed, a facet that he also experimented in the publishing industry and that is also presented in the tour with the exhibition of books and magazines designed or illustrated by the artist and that were published both in Portugal and in Brazil.
O Calígrafo Ocidental. Fernando Lemos e o Japão can be seen until January 20 at the Engawa Space of the Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian, Marquês de Fronteira, 2, Lisbon (Portugal). Espólio de Fernando Lemos is on view through March 17 at Átrio Biblioteca de Arte Gulbenkian, Avenida de Berna 45A, Lisbon (Portugal).
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