Born 1935, Portugal - died 2005
painter, sculptor, writer.
Education
Attended The School of Decorative Art (1947-51) and frequented the Superior School of Belas-Artes of Lisbon (1951-1957).
Biography
Bertholo started painting in his very early years and in 1953 he had his first exhibition which was quickly followed up by others in success.
In 1958 he moved to Paris and started to publish the magazine "KWY", and co-founded the "KWY.group" with Lourdes Castro, Jan Voss and Christo amongst others.
His early paintings were experiments in lyrical abstraction, which by 1960 approached informalism. the meandering lines of these works soon took on figurative suggestions and were subjected to a more rigorous structure and by 1962 Bertholo had adopted his caricatural, figurative mode, with little human figures playing out absurd narratives, reminiscent of comic strips.
Bertholo was also a musician and composed electronic and classical music and invented a digital programmable synthesizer/ sequencer of high quality.
René Bertholo is considered one of the biggest and important Portuguese artists ever and he exhibited several times in Galerie Birch, both in group and soloexhibitions. The first was held in 1968 followed by a 10 year celebration exhibition in 1978.
Selected representations
Museum of Modern Art of New Iorqu
Museu do Chiado - Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon
Centre National d´Art Contemporain
Museu Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto
Galeria Jean Boghici, Rio de Janeiro
Galeria Fernando Santos, Porto
Gallery Fernando Saints
Museum of Modern Art of Paris
FRAC - Rhône-Alpes,
Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon
Email request to Galerie Birch on current artworks for sale
