Santa Rita Pintor

The eccentric painter Santa Rita Pintor

Guilherme Augusto Cau da Costa de Santa Rita , called Santa Rita Pintor , (born October 31, 1889 in Lisbon , † May 29, 1918 ibid) was a Portuguese painter. He was a great exponent of Portuguese Futurism and Cubism .

Life

Guilherme de Santa Rita, as he called himself (Santa Rita Pintor, for example: Santa Rita, painter, was his stage name) was born in Lisbon. He first attended the Escola Superior de Belas Artes ( Academy of Fine Arts ) in Lisbon and moved to Paris in 1910 . There he briefly shared a studio with Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso and got to know important artists such as Picasso , Marinetti and Max Jacob . He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris. The self-confessed monarchist Santa Rita Pintor had a major conflict in Paris with the then Portuguese ambassador, João Chagas , who was a republican.

The artist, who saw himself as the official representative of Futurism or Marinetti in Portugal, took part in a Futurist Conference in the Teatro Republica in Lisbon in 1917 , at which a futuristic manifesto was announced by Jose Sobral de Almada-Negreiros . Two years earlier he had already taken part in a conference that was also attended by other young artists and writers and who tried to discuss how to break through the artistic apathy in Portugal.

As a figure, albeit alienated, he was portrayed in the novel " Lucio's Confession " (A confisão de Lucio) by Mário de Sá-Carneiro .

The person Santa Rita Pintor is described as "strange and strange". There is only one photograph left in which the artist can be seen; he always wore work clothes with striped squares on them, which should also distinguish him as an artist in clothing.

In 1918 he died in his parents' house. He had a large part of his work destroyed after his death.

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Today - despite the destruction of his entire oeuvre - there are still seven pictures preserved, some of them by private collectors or friends. One is e.g. B. Part of the collection of the Ministerio da Cultura (Ministry of Culture) of Portugal, one belonging to the Museu do Chiado . He was able to include images of his pictures in two almanacs: four each in the magazine “ Orpheu II ” (collages) and in the magazine he founded “ Portugal Futurista ”. Only one edition of the latter appeared in November 1917. Alongside Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, he is considered to be the most important interpreter of Futurism and Cubism in Portugal. His early death interrupted the beginning of an international career. However, he had never had exhibitions in Portugal or Paris.

Collage (1914), Orpheu , no.2
Collage (1914), Orpheu, no.2
Collage (1914), Orpheu, no.2
Collage (1914), Orpheu, no.2

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Commons : Guilherme de Santa-Rita - Collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Santa Rita Pintor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Santa Rita, Guilherme Augusto Cau da Costa de (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Portuguese painter
DATE OF BIRTH	October 31, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH	Lisbon
DATE OF DEATH	May 29, 1918
Place of death	Lisbon