
Berardo Collection Museum, April 17th to December 31st, 2015.
The exhibition presents a selection of around four hundred art and political posters from Portugal and abroad, taken from the collection assembled by Ernesto de Sousa throughout his life, and dating from between 1933 and 1988.
This series of posters, now called the Ernesto de Sousa Poster Collection, has become part of the Berardo Collection, and provides a sweeping overview of the cultural output of the Neo-Avant-Garde in Portugal and across Europe. However, it also represents an imaginary journey, a map of many different routes, and a story of various encounters, through which we can rediscover the personality of Ernesto de Sousa himself.
The Ernesto de Sousa Poster Collection is an assortment of affections, and is made up of posters of the artist’s own work, some of them created under his direction, as well as those picked up on his travels or sent to him following encounters with other artists, plus posters by artists who were his close friends, including Alberto Carneiro, Helena Almeida, Wolf Vostell, Robert Filliou, Julião Sarmento, Ângelo de Sousa, and many others. As such, the exhibition is based on the life of Ernesto de Sousa, and his passions and encounters with those whom he admired, and with whom he felt a spiritual and intellectual affinity. The selection of posters presented here reveals his talents across multiple disciplines and his ability to delve into different fields, which defined his own work.
The exhibition catalogue presents an extended selection of posters, complimented by a series of documentary images and writings by Ernesto de Sousa, including his 1965 essay Artes Gráficas, Veículo de Intimidade. The catalogue will also include a previously unpublished article by José Bártolo, professor and design critic, organiser of the “Portuguese Design Collection” (2015), and by Rui Afonso Santos, art and design historian.