10 Facts About Almada Negreiros

Jose Sobral de Almada Negreiros, usually known as Almada Negreiros, was a Portuguese artist.

Almada Negreiros was born in the colony of Portuguese Sao Tome and Principe, the son of a Portuguese father, Antonio Lobo de Almada Negreiros, and a Santomean mother, Elvira Freire Sobral.

Besides literature and painting, Almada developed ballet choreographies, and worked on tapestry, engraving, murals, caricature, mosaic, azulejo and stained glass.

In 1917, with the aim of introducing the Portuguese public to Futuristic aesthetics, Almada Negreiros published, together with Santa-Rita Pintor, the Portugal Futurista magazine, writing the Ultimatum Futurista, as geracoes portuguezas do seculo XX.

Almada Negreiros promoted a conference, the Sessao Futurista, where he appeared wearing a flight suit.

Almada Negreiros was, if only occasionally, an actor and a dancer, understanding that all forms of art are intimately linked.

Almada Negreiros always called himself a futurist artist, inspired by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and other modern artists; however his style is wider, and does not fit easily into a category.

Almada Negreiros wrote novels, poems, playwrights, essays and manifests that were, in his lifetime, published in books, magazines, newspapers or even low-cost booklets and flyers.

Almada Negreiros's manifestos were highly provocative, like "Manifesto Anti-Dantas", a humorous and aggressive text against Julio Dantas, a major figure of arts and culture of Salazar's regime, which stands as a banner against mediocrity and conformism.

Almada Negreiros wrote essays on the theory of colours, the Portuguese antique painting, geometry and gave numerous conferences on cultural matters.