Born in Lisbon on November 1, 1921, this artist attended the António Arroio School, where he later became a serigraphy teacher. He worked as an iron dealer and a maquetist in a lithography while studying at night.
Since 1946, he was a member of the Portuguese Communist Party. He connected his canvases with politics and participated in events such as the Biennial of Plastic Arts. Alongside his lifelong companions – Leonel Rodrigues, Moniz Pereira, Marcelino Vespeira, Alexandre O’Neill, Mário Cesariny, Cruzeiro Seixas, and others – he founded the Surrealist Group of Lisbon.
In 1942, he attended artistic gatherings at Hermínios café. He is the author of the series of drawings “Legends of Timor” and left behind an autobiography, published in 1986 by the newspaper “Diário”. He was an anarcho-syndicalist politician, editor-in-chief of the newspaper “A Batalha”, and a member and journalist of Editorial Globo. In the surrealistic field, although his involvement was brief due to his subsequent dedication to political party activities, he wrote some poems and made a contribution to the grand cadavre-exquis of 1948, exhibited in the first exhibition of the Surrealist Group of Lisbon.
However, he never completely distanced himself from artistic activities, teaching and working as a graphic designer and illustrator, and eventually returning to painting. Among the solo exhibitions he held, notable ones include: 1977, Retrospective Exhibition, National Museum of Nature, Luanda, Angola; 1986, Union of Angolan Writers, Luanda, Angola; 1988, National Society of Fine Arts, Lisbon; 1994, Camões Municipal Library, Lisbon; 1996, Journalists Club, Lisbon.
He passed away on August 14, 2004.
