Mário Cesariny de Vasconcelos or Mário Cesariny (August 9, 1923 – November 26, 2006) was a Portuguese
surrealist
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
poet and painter. He published several major works of poetry during a career spanning 50 years. Cesariny was also a
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
, but his work became more centered on poetry in the 1950s.
Early life
Mário Cesariny was born in
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, Portugal, the youngest child and only son of Viriato de Vasconcelos and María de las Mercedes Cesariny, a Spaniard of French but originally Italian ancestry.
Education
Mário Cesariny studied in the prestigious Escola de Artes Decorativas António Arroio and also studied music with the composer
Fernando Lopes Graça
Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...
. Later he joined the
Académie de la Grande Chaumière
The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France.
History
The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Acadé ...
in Paris, where he met
André Breton
André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...
in 1947. He soon became influenced by the French surrealist movement and was one of the biggest supporters of the movement in Portugal, where he founded the Lisbon Surrealist Movement with other Portuguese artists including
Alexandre O'Neill
Alexandre Manuel Vahia de Castro O'Neill de Bulhões, GOSE (19 December 1924, in Lisbon – 21 August 1986, in Lisbon) was a Portuguese writer and poet of Irish descent.
Family
He was born at 39 Fontes Pereira de Melo Avenue the son of José ...
and
José-Augusto França
José Augusto Rodrigues França (16 November 1922 – 18 September 2021) was a Portuguese historian, art critic, and professor.
Awards and honors
*Medal of Honor of the City of Lisbon, 1992.
*Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry (10 June ...
and where he met
João Artur da Silva.
After being acquainted with the surrealist movement, Cesariny moved away from the
neorealist movement, important at the time in the country for being composed mainly by members of the resistance against the fascist leaning regime of
Oliveira Salazar. He adopted an attitude of constant experimenting in his work. This principle is the main characteristic of his work and has been present throughout his career.
From 1960 until
April 25, 1974, Cesariny was mercilessly harassed by the Portuguese
Polícia Judiciária
The (PJ; en, Judiciary Police) is the national criminal investigation police agency of Portugal, focused in fighting serious crimes, including homicides, kidnapping, organized crime, terrorism, illegal drug trade, corruption, cybercrime and ...
for being a suspect of
vagrancy
Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...
, a euphemistic term used by the police in those days for
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
, which the poet lived courageously in spite of persecution. This fact shows up several times in his writings in a veiled way ("Lisboa-os-Sustos") and was one of the causes of his intermittent stayings in Great Britain and France during the 1960s and 1970s. Later he talked publicly about this.
Cesariny interview, January 2002
an
Cesariny last interview in 2006 (audio)
/ref>
Works
* 1950 — '
* 1952 — '
* 1953 — '
* 1956 — '
* 1957 — '
* 1958 — '
* 1959 — '
* 1961 — '
* 1961 — '
* 1964 — '
* 1965 — '
* 1972 — '
* 1980 — '
* 1994 — '
Notes
External links
Page on MCV
''Autografia'', film about Mário Cesariny
Article in IPLB
Poems in ''Poetry International Web''
Last interview (audio)
Genealogy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasconcelos, Mario Cesariny De
1923 births
2006 deaths
Gay writers
Portuguese LGBT writers
People from Lisbon
20th-century Portuguese poets
Portuguese male poets
Portuguese surrealist writers
Deaths from cancer in Portugal
Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière
20th-century Portuguese painters
20th-century male artists
20th-century male writers
Portuguese male painters
20th-century LGBT people