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View of the exhibition ‘Manoel de Oliveira e o Cinema Português - 1. A Bem da Nação (1929-1969)’, Serralves Foundation - Casa do Cinema Manoel de Oliveira, Porto, from 4 March to 3 September 2023. Photograph © André Delhaye, courtesy of the Serralves Foundation, Porto.
Henrique Moreira's conquest of the name ‘sculptor of Porto’ is still widely recognised today. His large-scale pieces occupy prominent public spaces in the city, including the ‘Menina Nua' [Naked Girl] and ‘Abundância' [Abundance], both on Avenida dos Aliados. Next to the Pérgula da Foz, ‘Lobo do Mar’ [Seawolf] tapes the escarpments where the lifeguards he honours used to work. But the sculptor also has a piece of statuary with a hidden detail: ‘O Atleta’ [The Athlete] (1930), a statue over two metres high in painted plaster, from the collection of the Vilanovense Futebol Clube club in Gaiás, was modelled on the director Manoel de Oliveira, who was 25 at the time.
Many lives fit into the 106 years that Mestre lived, but of them all, his athletic side is perhaps the least known. He was three times runner-up in the pole vault for Sport Club do Porto, and also practised athletics, trapeze and swimming - even taking part in motor racing events as a driver.
In Manuel António Pina Aniki-Bóbó's essay on the film of the same name, published by Assírio & Alvim, we read: ‘The young Oliveira was a national pole vault champion, as well as an aeroplane pilot and car racer (and an amateur gymnast and circus performer, who made a name for himself in Porto with a risky flying trapeze act that, with his brother, he performed at the Sport Club do Porto charity events).’
The athletic, well-defined figure that Henrique Moreira has sculpted is therefore not an artistic liberty, but rather a surprising portrait of the film-maker as a young man.
Photograph © nvstudio, courtesy of the Serralves Foundation, Porto.
O Atleta, de Henrique Moreira © Vilanovense FC
All the photographs were taken during the exhibition ‘Manoel de Oliveira e o Cinema Português - 1. A Bem da Nação (1929-1969)’, Fundação de Serralves - Casa do Cinema Manoel de Oliveira, Porto, from 4 March to 3 September 2023.
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