Born on November 25, 1939, in the city of Guimarães, José Maria Fernandes Marques lived there until 1957. In 1958, in Lisbon, he began studying painting and drawing with Teresa de Sousa and Gil Teixeira Lopes. He attended the engraving courses at the Sociedade Cooperativa de Gravadores Portugueses, where he met Hogan, Júlio Pomar, Almada Negreiros, Bartolomeu Cid dos Santos, among others.
In 1961, he traveled to Paris, where he came into contact with fauvist painting, which would ultimately influence him in the future. It was in this year that he adopted the pseudonym José de Guimarães, as a tribute to his hometown. The following year, he traveled to Italy, where he had the opportunity to see the frescoes of Michelangelo and the paintings of Morandi and Giorgio de Chirico.
After another year in Paris, he visited Munich and encountered Klee, Kandinsky, the Bauhaus, and Die Bruecke.
In 1967, in Africa, he joined a military service commission in Angola. There, he became interested in African art and began his foray into the world of collages. Still in Luanda, he published the Manifesto to the nonconformist painters – Perturbing Art – where he stated, “Approach life and use the materials of our time. Give beauty to steel, aluminum, concrete, and plastic.”
He returned to Portugal in 1974, and in 1980, he began sculpting. In these travels and influences of 20th-century art lies the essence of José de Guimarães’ art, which always continued to search for new artistic realities. In this context, he also traveled to Japan, China, Mexico, and Tunisia, gathering important data and perspectives that permeate his works.
In 2001, he received the Career Recognition Award from the Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores, and in 2009, the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit.
His work is represented in important collections, including:
Wurth Museum, Kunzelsan; Museu de Angola, Luanda; Museu Real de Arte Moderna, Brussels; Museu de Arte Moderna (MUHKA), Antwerp; Museu Middelheim, Antwerp; Fund
