René Bertholo

René Bertholo (Alhandra, 1935 – Tavira, 2005), son of painter Augusto Bértholo, attended the António Arroio Decorative Arts School, between 1947 and 1951. In the same year, he enrolled in the Painting course of the Lisbon Superior School of Fine Arts, which he completed in 1957. While studying Painting, he had his first exhibitions, namely the 7th Plastic Arts General Exhibition (1953) and the 1^st Salon of Abstract Art (1954). In this period, he was also one of the responsible elements for the edition of the Ver magazine, together with José Escada and Lourdes Castro, with whom he would marry in 1957. He had his first solo exhibition in 1956, at Pórtico Gallery, and he left the following year for Munich, where he stayed for approximately one year. He moved to Paris in 1958, and received a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, between 1959 and 1960. In the French capital, he was one of the founders of the KWY (Ká Wamos Yindo) group and of the magazine with the same name, and he had exhibitions together with its members between 1960 and 1962, not only in Paris but also in Lisbon, Bologna and Sarbruque. In Paris, he came into contact with the proposals of the Nouvelle Figuration, to which he became associated. However, his work was never set within the boundaries of a specific artistic movement, on the contrary, it was characterised by a process of continuous experimentation, with many influences such as Surrealism, Pop Art and Nouveau Réalisme. Around 1966, he proposed discussions related to the condition of the object, namely with its immutable and inert character, which led him to produce small objects that moved electronically, which he named reduced models. He came back to painting in the beginning of the 1970’s, with various interventions in the urban space and public works, namely the mural works in Paris, at Rue Dussoubs (1972) and in Setúbal, at the Barreiro Hospital (1983). After the important international exposure his work had in the 60’s and 70’s, which began in 1959, with the participation in the São Paulo Biennial, he returned to Portugal, in 1981, settling in the Algarve for good, in the following year. In 2000, he was part of the exhibition Making Choices, at the New York Modern Art Museum, and the Serralves Museum organised a retrospective exhibition of his work. His work is represented in the most important private and institutional collections.

 

FMV, July 2020