Bertina Lopes

Bertina Lopes (July 11, 1924 – February 10, 2012)[1] was a Mozambican painter and sculptor. Her date of birth is sometimes given as 1926[2] or c. 1935.[3]

Born in Lourenço Marques, Lopes was one of four daughters of a Portuguese father and a Mozambican mother.[1] She received her first schooling in Mozambique before earning a degree in painting and sculpture in Lisbon, where she met such figures as Carlos Botelho and Marcelino Macedo Vespeira.[2] Returning home in 1953, she taught at a technical school until 1962. She returned to Portugal to study ceramics under Querubim Lapa de Almeida on a fellowship from the Gulbenkian Foundation, and chose to remain in exile, moving to Rome. She lived there for the rest of her life, although in interviews she frequently spoke of her nostalgia for her homeland.[2] Later she became a citizen of Italy.[1] Among her Italian associates were Marino Marini and Renato Guttuso.[2] Lopes was twice married. With her first husband, Virgilio de Lemos, she had twin sons, Virgilio and Eugenio. Her second husband was the Italian Francesco Confaloni, whom she married in 1965.[1]

Artistically, Lopes found inspiration in the poetry of Noémia de Sousa, and incorporated social themes into her work.[3] Her last public appearance was at the Venice Biennial in 2011.[2]. She died in Rome;[1] after her death it was proposed that her house be turned into a museum.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 ":: Archivio Bertina Lopes ::". www.archiviobertinalopes.net. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "MHN: Bertina Lopes". www.mozambiquehistory.net. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  3. 1 2 Kathleen E. Sheldon (2005). Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5331-7.
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