António Pedro da Costa (9 December 1909, in

Portuguese Cape Verde Cape Verde was a colony of the Portuguese Empire from the initial settlement of the Cape Verde Islands in 1462 until the independence of Cape Verde in 1975. History 15th century The islands of Cape Verde were discovered in 1460-62 by Pri ...

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

Praia Praia (, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.Caminha Caminha () is a municipality in the north-west of Portugal, 21 km north from Viana do Castelo, located in the Viana do Castelo District. The population in 2011 was 16,684, in an area of 136.52 km². Caminha is subdivided into 14 civil ...

, Moledo,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

) was a Portuguese painter, potter, journalist and writer.

Biography

He was born to a prominent colonial family from the Cape Verde Islands, son of José Maria da Costa (b.

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, c. 1870) and wife Elizabeth Savage de Paula Rosa. However, his maternal grandmother was Irish and English, and he cited this influence of the "

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

spirit" as an influence in his work. In addition because his family spoke English, and sent their children to English schools, he was able to work as a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

with the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

in London between 1944 and 1945. He moved to Portugal when he was four. Later he attended Liceu Pedro Nunes in Lisbon for two years and afterwards attended Nuno Álvares Institute, Companhia de Jesus in

A Guarda A Guarda is a municipality in the province of Pontevedra in the autonomous community of Galicia, in Spain. It is situated in the ''comarca'' of O Baixo Miño. Demography Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) ...

, Galicia, Spain, his sixth year was in Santarém, Coimbra's lyceum during his seventh year where he wrote the journal ''O Bicho''. He attended the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; ) is a public university, public research university in Lisbon, and Portugal's largest university. It was founded in 1911, but the university's present structure dates to the 2013 merger of the former Universit ...

, having attended at the Faculty of Directors and Letters and did not finished his courses. He lived in Paris between 1934 and 1935 and went to study at the Institute of Arts and Archaeology at the

University of Sorbonne The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

where he signed the ''Manifeste Dimensioniste'' (''Dimensionist Manifest''). Some of his poems and writings were its origins and elements that would create a Cape Verdean review related to anti-colonialism titled '' Claridade'' in 1936. He created the Galeria UP in 1933 which existed up to 1936, it showcased the first expo by

Maria Helena Vieira da Silva Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (13 June 1908 – 6 March 1992) was a Portuguese abstract painter. She was considered a leading member of the European abstract expressionism movement known as Art Informel. Her works feature complex interiors and c ...

in Portugal in 1935. He was one of the introducers of

Surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

in Portuguese painting, in the late 1930s. Its official start is set to be the exposition he held with

António Dacosta António Dacosta (3 November 1914 - 2 December 1990) was a Portuguese painter, poet and art critic and a pioneer of the surrealist movement in Portugal. Early life Dacosta was born in Angra do Heroísmo and grew up on Terceira island, in the Azore ...

and Pamela Boden in

in 1940. Afterwards, he visited Brazil in 1941 and exhibited his paintings in the then capital city of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

and

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. He directed the editorship of the review '' Variante'', he published two editions in 1942 and 1943, he took part in the seminary '' Mundo Literário'' (''World Literature'') from 1946 to 1948. Pedro paintings show the influence of the great surrealist painters, like

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( ; ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. His ...

Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...

and

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

. He was a founding member of the Portuguese Surrealist Group, in 1947, along with Cândido Costa Pinto, who shortly left, Marcelino Vespeira,

Fernando de Azevedo Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, and former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa and Asia (like the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka). It is e ...

and

Mário Cesariny Mario is the Italian, French, Croatian, Czech, Norwegian, Slovak, Serbian, Hungarian, Slovene, Polish, Spanish, Danish, Portuguese, Romanian, Swedish, Bulgarian, Greek, German, Dutch, and English form of the Latin Roman name Marius. The video ...

, but he left painting short time after. He dedicated himself to

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

and

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

for the rest of his life. His theatrical appearances included the '' Teatro Apolo'' in Lisbon in 1949 and at the Teatro Experimental do Porto (Porto Experimental Theatre) in 1953 and in 1961. He was also a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and an active anti-fascist militant. He married Maria Manuela Possante, without issue. He lived his last year in

Moledo Moledo is a village and a former Freguesia (Portugal), civil parish in the municipality of Lourinhã, Lisbon District, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish São Bartolomeu dos Galegos e Moledo. It has retained its agricultu ...

, a beach near

Caminha Caminha () is a municipality in the north-west of Portugal, 21 km north from Viana do Castelo, located in the Viana do Castelo District. The population in 2011 was 16,684, in an area of 136.52 km². Caminha is subdivided into 14 civil ...

Legacy

One of his poems can be found on the CD '' Poesia de Cabo Verde e Sete Poemas de Sebastião da Gama'' by Afonso Dias.

Literary works

Poetic works

* ''Os meus 7 pecados'' (1926) *''Ledo Encanto'' (1927) *''Distância, Canções de António Pedro'' (1928) *''Devagar'' (1929) *''Diário'' (''Diaries'') (1929) *''Máquina de Vidro'' (1931) *''A Cidade, Oficinas gráficas UP, Separata da "Página Literária"'' (1932) about the 16 June Revolution *''15 Poémes a hasard'' (1956) *''Primeiro Volume'' (''First Volume'') (1936) *''Onze poemas líricos de exaltação e o folhetim'' (''Eleven Poems'') (1938) *''Casa de Campo'' (''The House of Fields'') (1938) *''Protopoema da Serra d'Arga'' (''Early Poems of Serra d'Arga'') (1949) *"Invocação para um poema marítimo", ("Innovation on Maritime Poems") (1951)

Other works

*''The Dimensionist Manifesto'' (1936) ntónio Pedro assina, com outros autores, a primeira ''(movemental) edition'' do Manifesto*''Desimaginação'' (1937) *''Grandeza e virtudes da Arte Moderna'' (''Greatest Virtues on Modern Art'') (1939) *''Apenas uma narrativa'' (1942) *''Teatro'' (1947) *''Andam Ladrões cé em Casa'' (1950) *''Martírios de fingimento'' (1952) *''Pequeno Tratado de Encenação'' (1962) *''Teatro completo'' (1981), posthumous work, introduction by Luiz Francisco Rebello *''Nana de noche'' (2012), posthumous work

Potteries, paintings and other plastic works

*''Le Crachat Embelli'' (1934) *''Poema no espaço'' (''Poems Without a Space'') (object) (1935) * ''Aparelho metafísico de meditação'' (object) (1935) *''Transmissão'' (''Transmission'') (1935) *''Dança de roda'' (1936) *''O Anjo da guarda'' (1939) *''O Avejão lírico'' (1939) *''Transmissão'' (''Transmission'') (1939) *''Ilha do cão'' (''Island of Dogs'' or the ''Isle of Dogs'') (1940) *''Intervenção romântica'' (''Romantic Invervention'') (1940) *''Madrugada'' (1940) *''Nós dois no Brasil'' (1940) *''Tríptico solto de Moledo'' (1943) *''A Fantastic Figure and Animal in an Interior'' (1944) *''Rapto na paisagem povoada'' (1946) *''O Amanhecer das virgens'' (1948) *''Duas esculturas de bronze'' (''Two Bronze Sculptures'') (1952) - no title *''Três esculturas de cerâmica'' (''Three Ceramic Sculptures'') (1955) - no title

References

External links

António Pedro at the José de Azeredo Perdigão Modern Art Center, Lisbon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedro, Antonio 1909 births 1966 deaths 20th-century Portuguese journalists 20th-century Portuguese male artists 20th-century Portuguese painters Portuguese male journalists People from Praia Portuguese anti-fascists Portuguese writers Portuguese potters Portuguese surrealist artists Portuguese male painters Portuguese people of British descent