Biography

Ernesto de Sousa, à esquerda, com amigos, c. 1940.
Ernesto de Sousa, on the left, with friends, c. 1940.
Paris, c. 1948–52.
Paris, c. 1948–52.
Paris, c. 1948–52.
Paris, c. 1948–52.
Com João Abel Manta, Paris, 1949.
With João Abel Manta, Paris, 1949.
Paris, 1949.
Paris, 1949.
Com Maria do Carmo Anta, Paris, c. 1948–52.
With Maria do Carmo Anta, Paris, c. 1948–52.
Ernesto de Sousa, Maria Carmo Anta e Professor Valadares, década de 50.
Ernesto de Sousa, Maria Carmo Anta and Professor Valadares, 1950s.
No Congresso da Unione Italiana della Cultura Populare, Bari, 1955.
At the Congress of Unione Italiana della Cultura Populare, Bari, 1955.
Na escola Francisco Arruda. Eduardo Calvet Magalhães, em pé à direita, década de 50.
At Francisco Arruda school. Eduardo Calvet Magalhães, on the right standing, 1950s.
[?], Lima de Freitas e Carlos Porto, à esquerda; Ernesto Melo e Castro, [?] e Ernesto de Sousa, à direita.
[?], Lima de Freitas and Carlos Porto, on the left; Ernesto Melo e Castro, [?] e Ernesto de Sousa, on the right.
Ernesto de Sousa, José Fonseca e Costa, ao centro, e outros cinecublistas com Vittorio de Sica, Lisboa, 1957.
Ernesto de Sousa, José Fonseca e Costa, in the middle, and other film society members with Vittorio de Sica, Lisbon, 1957.
Ernesto de Sousa e António-Pedro Vasconcelos na redacção da revista Imagem, c. 1958.
Ernesto de Sousa and António-Pedro Vasconcelo at the magazine Imagem's newsroom, c. 1958.
José-Augusto França e Ernesto de Sousa, 1959.
José-Augusto França and Ernesto de Sousa, 1959.
À porta da SNBA no dia da inauguração da exposição “50 Artistas Independentes”, 1959. Jorge Vieira, Charrua, Barbosa, Vespeira, Sá Nogueira, Fernando de Azevedo, Albertina Mântua, Luísa Bastos, Ernesto de Sousa, Skapinakis, Pedro Vieira de Almeida, Manuel Baptista e José-Augusto França.
At the SNBA's door on the day of the opening of the exhibition “50 Artistas Independentes”, 1959. Jorge Vieira, Charrua, Barbosa, Vespeira, Sá Nogueira, Fernando de Azevedo, Albertina Mântua, Luísa Bastos, Ernesto de Sousa, Skapinakis, Pedro Vieira de Almeida, Manuel Baptista and José-Augusto França.
Ernesto de Sousa e Leão Penedo, c. 1959-1960.
Ernesto de Sousa and Leão Penedo, c. 1959-1960.
A filmar "Dom Roberto", 1961.
Filming "Dom Roberto", 1961.
Raul Solnado, Cândida Calhau e Ernesto de Sousa, década de 60.
Raul Solnado, Cândida Calhau e Ernesto de Sousa, 1960s.
Luís Filipe Costa entrevista Ernesto de Sousa, década de 60.
Luís Filipe Costa interviewing Ernesto de Sousa, 1960s.
No atelier de Vitor Palla, c. 1964. Rogério de Freitas, Augusto Abelaira, Isabel do Carmo, entre outros.
At Vitor Palla's studio, c. 1964. Rogério de Freitas, Augusto Abelaira, Isabel do Carmo, among others.
Com escultura de Franklin, c. 1964.
With a sculpture by Franklin, c. 1964.
Ernesto de Sousa e alunos do Curso de Formação Artística assistem à performance "Conferência-Objecto" de Ana Hatherly, Galeria Quadrante, Lisboa, 1967.
Ernesto de Sousa and students from Artistic Training Course watch Ana Hatherly's performance "Conferência-Objecto", Galeria Quadrante, Lisbon, 1967.
Com Carlos Gentil-Homem, Curso de Formação Artística, 1967–68.
With Carlos Gentil-Homem, Curso de Formação Artística, 1967–68.
Com Jorge Peixinho, 1969.
With Jorge Peixinho, 1969.
Com Almada Negreiros, 1969.
With Almada Negreiros, 1969.
Ernesto de Sousa, Carlos Gentil-Homem, Maria Manuel Torres e Isabel Alves, Vigo, c. 1971.
Ernesto de Sousa, Carlos Gentil-Homem, Maria Manuel Torres and Isabel Alves, Vigo, c. 1971.
Ernesto de Sousa e Isabel Alves, 1972. Fotografia de Ângelo de Sousa.
Ernesto de Sousa and Isabel Alves, 1972. Photo by Ângelo de Sousa.
Com Joseph Beuys na Documenta 5, Kassel, 1972.
With Joseph Beuys at Documenta 5, Kassel, 1972.
Com Orlando Garcia, à esquerda, Mário Cortesão Casimiro e Ana Hatherly, 26 de Abril de 1974. Foto: João Perry.
With Orlando Garcia, on the left, Mário Cortesão Casimiro and Ana Hatherly, April 26th, 1974. Photo: João Perry.
Manifestação do 1º de Maio, 1975. Com Carlos Antunes e Isabel do Carmo.
May Day, 1975. With Carlos Antunes and Isabel do Carmo.
Congresso AICA em Lisboa, 1976. Julião Sarmento, Helena Vasconcelos, Isabel Alves, João Vieira, Ana Isabel Miranda e Ernesto de Sousa. Na mesa de trás, Salette Tavares, presidente da AICA–Secção Portuguesa.
AICA Congress in Lisbon, 1976. Julião Sarmento, Helena Vasconcelos, Isabel Alves, João Vieira, Ana Isabel Miranda and Ernesto de Sousa. On the other table, Salette Tavares, president of AICA/Portuguese Section.
Congresso AICA em Lisboa, 1976.
AICA Congress in Lisbon, 1976.
Robert e Marianne Filliou, Fernando de Filippi, Nicole Gravier, Leonel Moura, Maria João, Isabel Alves e Ernesto de Sousa, Sintra, 1977.
Robert e Marianne Filliou, Fernando de Filippi, Nicole Gravier, Leonel Moura, Maria João, Isabel Alves and Ernesto de Sousa, Sintra, 1977.
Janas, Sintra, década de 1970.
Janas, Sintra, 1970s.
Com a directora da De Appel, Wies Smals, durante o congresso do IKG, Amesterdão, 1981.
With Wies Smals, director of De Appel, in the IKG congress, Amsterdam, 1981.
Mesa redonda integrada na exposição "Atitudes Litorais", Lisboa, 1984. Da esquerda para a direita: José Miranda Justo, Ernesto de Sousa e Cabrita Reis.
Talk included in the program of "Atitudes Litorais", Lisbon, 1984. From left to right: José Miranda Justo, Ernesto de Sousa and Cabrita Reis.
Nova Iorque, 1983.
New York, 1983.

Ernesto de Sousa (Lisbon,  April 18, 1921 – October 6, 1988) was one of the most complex and active figures of his time, a prolific multidisciplinary artist and an avid producer of synergies between generations of artists from both the first and the second half of the 20th century. Defending an experimental and free artistic expression, he dedicated himself to the study, promotion and practice of the arts, as well as to curatorship, critique and essay writing, photography, cinema and theater.

During the 1960s he got in touch with the Fluxus movement and with the European neo-avant-garde, becoming friends with Robert Filliou and Wolf Vostell. This contact was significant to his recast of art as an experimental and participatory "open work", of which are examples the theatrical exercise Nós Não Estamos Algures (1969), the expanded film Almada, Um Nome de Guerra (1969-1972) and the mixed media Luíz Vaz 73, all collaborative pieces authored by him.

During this decade and up until the 1980s, he organized courses, conferences and exhibitions on experimental film, video art, performance and happening, while promoting connections between the international neo-avant-garde and the Portuguese context.

Ernesto de Sousa anticipated the Carnation Revolution (April 25th, 1974) and countered Portugal's peripheral position in Europe when he proposed to celebrate Robert Filliou's Anniversary of Art (Círculo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra, 1974). The exhibition "Alternativa Zero" (Galeria Nacional de Arte Moderna, Lisbon, 1977) synthesized his project of creating a Portuguese avant-garde in aesthetic and ideologic dialogue with its international counterparts.

He published extensively in magazines and newspapers since the 1940s, and his critique was instrumental in encouraging experimental artistic practices in Portugal. His strong involvement in the film society movement, which he founded in Portugal, was a major contribution towards the outbreak of the "New Cinema" announced by his only feature film, Dom Roberto (1962), awarded twice at the Cannes Festival in 1963. It's also important to note his studies on Portuguese folk art and its theorization in the context of contemporary art as well as his rereading of the work of the "voluntarily ingenuous" artist Almada Negreiros, whose work anticipated the ideas De Sousa defended.

He was the Portuguese commissioner for the Venice Biennale in 1980, 1982 and 1984.

Dedicated to him were the retrospective exhibitions Itinerários, organized by the Secretary of State for Culture in 1987 (commissioned by José Luís Porfírio, Leonel Moura and Fernando Pernes), and Revolution My Body at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian in 1998 (commissioned by Helena de Freitas and Miguel Wandschneider).

In 1997 the Serralves Foundation presented a restitution of "Alternativa Zero" on the celebration of the 20th anniversary of this exhibition, and in 2012 a restaging of the mixed media Almada, Um Nome de Guerra and Nós Não Estamos Algures.
In 2014 the José de Guimarães International Arts Center organized the exhibition "Ernesto de Sousa e a Arte Popular – Em torno da exposição 'Barristas e Imaginários'".

From 1992 to 2013, the Ernesto de Sousa Fellowship supported 20 young artists in the making of intermedia projects during an internship at the Experimental Intermedia Foundation in New York.