Designers ‘Exiladas’ e o Design em Portugal

Abstract

At a time of dictatorship under the Estado Novo (1933-1974), it is known that artists and designers, while on the one hand remaining confined to Portuguese borders, others sought to leave the country and practice their activity, especially women who in the first decade of the 20th century dedicated themselves to painting. However, few left Portugal. This article seeks to bring to light women artists who dedicated themselves to design, even if their activity was more occasional or representative. To this end, a brief diachronic and synchronic history of their production is presented.

The selection of ten examples is since they come from different generations and span a wide range of time periods, in the hope of revealing the common thread of their journey as designers. The article also aims to explain commonalities and divergences, due to their geographical and temporal experiences and the imposition of programmes, both nationally and internationally. The article highlights designers who travelled abroad and stayed in Portugal, such as Mily Possoz (1888-1968), Sara Afonso (1899 -1983), Ofélia Marques (1902-1952), Maria Keil (1914-2012), Maria Helena Matos (1924-2015) Alda Rosa (b. 1936), Cristina Reis (b. 1945) Judite Cília (b. 1946), Assunção Cordovil (b. 1947) and Salette Brandão (b. 1952).

In one way or another, there are cases of people leaving the country for political reasons or because they needed to learn in other international contexts, since they couldn’t find the right place to get their training in Portugal. Others returned to the country before and after the fall of the regime, and many of them stayed in Portugal in the service of the Estado Novo and other business organisations. Their activity is essentially orientated towards graphic design, especially editorial design and illustration, with a few exceptions in product design.