Two exhibitions open this Saturday, September 27, the Municipal Holiday, at the Centro Cultural de Lagos – one dedicated to XNUMXth century costumes and the other that showcases several drawings by the painter Joaquim Bravo.
In room 1, there will be several drawings by Joaquim Bravo, whose path has “a unique light, an obsessive rhythm of art addiction and, at the same time, an ironic cadence of clairvoyant simplicity".
The artist settled in Lagos in 1966, where he became a secondary school teacher, having taught at Escola Secundária Gil Eanes. This show is part of the 4th cycle of exhibitions at LoCAL – Lagos Contemporary Art Collection.
Room 2 of the Cultural Center brings to the public some of the period costumes produced for the Discoveries Fairs that over the last few years have been a regular presence in the historical processions in Lagos.
The old port of Lagos, located at the confluence of the main European maritime routes, has been the protagonist since the first decades of the XNUMXth century in the great voyages of discovery and exploration of the African coast and the Atlantic archipelagos, which enriched the bourgeoisie and made famous people who became important through of financial capital.
The intense movement of ports, as well as the incessant flow of people and goods, transformed Lagos into a modern and cosmopolitan city where the economic power of its people was reflected in the streets and houses through their clothing. The Lacobrigenses elites – members of different levels of the nobility, relevant figures of the clergy, wealthy bourgeois – had easy access to exotic and luxury materials, which they used in the manufacture of clothing that followed the fashion standards of the large Portuguese and European urban centers.
The "Exhibition of Costumes" that is now being presented, and which will be on display until the end of December, recovers a little of the past of Lacobrigense society and the different social groups that interacted in the old port of "Lagos dos Descobrimentos", establishing through the art of the local seamstresses, a dynamic connection with the present.
The public will thus have the opportunity to revisit a fascinating world, through replicas of fabrics, materials, shapes and props from the Discoveries period.
♦ JOAQUIM BRAVO DRAWINGS Exhibition
Portuguese painter, he was born in Évora on December 7, 1935. Here he lived with Álvaro Lapa, Apeles Espanca and António Gancho. In 1957, he moved to Lisbon and attended a course in Germanic Philology, which he would never complete.
In 1962, at the heart of the gatherings at the “Café do Gelo”, he began his journey in painting, a path that he will focus on for the rest of his life. At this embryonic stage, the inspiration for abstract expressionism, namely by Jackson Pollock, becomes clear.
In 1964 he leaves for Germany, where he stays for two years. This stay was of crucial importance, as it comes into contact with the artistic aspect of geometric abstraction – which excites him greatly.
Back in Portugal, in 1966, he settled in Lagos, becoming a secondary school teacher, having taught at the Gil Eanes Secondary School, the school where Zeca Afonso was also a teacher.
In 1989, he applied for a Gulbenkian scholarship, aiming to be able to devote himself exclusively to his art, but the answer was delayed.
Joaquim Bravo dies the following year, in 1990, a victim of a prolonged illness.
♦ COSTUME EXHIBITION from the Age of Discovery
These costumes, based on standard models and historical documents of the time, were entirely produced by lacobrigenses seamstresses. These real artists – names such as Carmelita Reis, Cristalina Baptista, Corine Ferreira – dedicated themselves, over successive events, and with the utmost professionalism, to the reconstitution of a wide range of garments allusive to the different social groups that interacted in the former port of «Lagos dos Descobrimentos».
Now, the City Council of Lagos remembers some of the most significant moments of this recent past, bringing to the public costumes and adornments that brightened one of the most famous cultural events, consisting of thousands of extras who paraded through the city streets in high moments of cultural entertainment. By the end of the year, some of the most curious and elaborate costumes will thus be displayed to the public, which represent a true “historical window” on the Age of Discovery. With the support of mannequins kindly provided by Lojas Borlinha, and thanks to the consummate art of our seamstresses, reconstructions of some of the most emblematic garments used by our ancestors in the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries are now on display.
The old port of Lagos, located at the confluence of the main European maritime routes, has been the protagonist since the first decades of the XNUMXth century in the great voyages of discovery and exploration of the African coast and the Atlantic archipelagos, which enriched the bourgeoisie and made famous people who became important through of financial capital. The intense movement of ports, as well as the incessant flow of people and goods, transformed Lagos into a modern and cosmopolitan city where the economic power of its people was reflected in the streets and houses through their clothing. The Lacobrigenses elites – members of different levels of the nobility, relevant figures of the clergy, wealthy bourgeois – had easy access to exotic and luxury materials, which they used in the manufacture of clothing that followed the fashion standards of the large Portuguese and European urban centers.
This exhibition seeks to reconstitute a lesser-known facet of our past, the history of fashion, which has also undergone successive changes over time. The “Exhibition of Costumes” that is now being presented, recovers a little of the past of “Lagos dos Descobrimentos”, establishing, through the art of the seamstresses of Lacobrigenses, a dynamic connection with the present. The interested public will thus have the opportunity to revisit a fascinating world, through replicas of fabrics, materials, shapes, and props from the Discoveries period.
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