Júlio Resende (Oporto, 1917-2011) came to painting at a young age, having received the bases of drawing at the Silva Porto Academy. In parallel, he did illustrations and comics for newspapers and children’s publications. In 1937, he entered the Oporto Superior School of Fine Arts, where he was a student of Dórdio Gomes. In 1943, he participated at the I Independents Exhibition and had his first solo exhibition, at Salão Silva Porto. Three years later, as a grantee of the High Culture Institute, he went to Paris, where he was a student of Duco de la Haix and Otto Friez, and he also learned the techniques of fresco and engraving. From Paris, he also travelled to other European capitals. In 1949, in Portugal, he showed the production of the previous years, clearly marked by the influence and importance that the contact with the European modernist movements had in his work, particularly cubism and expressionism. In the same year, he worked as a teacher in Braga, and later in Viana do Alentejo, and had his first international solo show in Norway. The 1950’s were a period of maturation and affirmation of his work in Portugal, with the participation at the I Salão os Artistas de Hoje, in 1956, and at the I Plastic Arts Exhibition of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in 1957, for both of which he received awards. The themes connected with people of the sea were his favourite in this period, however, in the 1960’s, he would make abstract painting, in a constant renovation of his work. In 1958, he became a teacher at the Oporto School of Fine Arts, and was apponted President of the Board in 1975. He continued his artistic practice, namely with the paintings of the Oporto ribeira, which he revisited successively in his work. At the beginning of the 1990’s, the Júlio Resende Foundation was created, and the artist travelled to Cape Verde, Goa and Mozambique – trips that would, again, impact and change his painting, namely in the increase and maturity of the colour palette. Resende exhibited his work and was awarded regularly, he participated in the São Paulo Biennial, in 1951 and had retrospective exhibitions at Soares dos Reis National Museum, in 1979, and at Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in 1989. His work is represented in various public and private collections.
FMV, October 2020
