Stories of the Collection VI

Spanning the period from 1983 to the present day, Stories of the Collection summarises key moments in the formation of the Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) Collection. Across distinct points and through the presentation of its most important acquisitions, we follow the desires, tastes, policies and circumstances of each specific moment of the collection’s development: The Decorative Collection (1983-89); The Art Collection (1990-97); Diversification (2000-04); Photographs (1991 and 2004); Precision (2004-08 and 2014); Prints (2007); Donations and Bequests (1967-2021); Resuming Acquisitions (2020-21); New Acquisitions: renowned artists (2022 and 2023); New Acquisitions: mid-career artists (2022 and 2023); Caixa Contest for Young Artists (2022 and 2023).

In 2008, the CGD Board of Directors, chaired by Fernando Faria de Oliveira, acquired a collection of first editions by Gravura – Sociedade Cooperativa de Gravadores Portugueses (SCGP) from Mr. Manuel Torres. Founded on 20 July 1956 by José Júlio, Conceição Silva, Alice Jorge, Cipriano Dourado and Júlio Pomar, among others, the collective had its first headquarters in Torres' garage in Lisbon. Through the improvement of printing techniques, Gravura proposed to support initiatives that fostered its practice and which democratised and made works of art more accessible.

Consisting of 644 first prints from 100 or 200-copy runs, this collection was published for distribution to members of the Cooperative. From the first print by Jorge Barradas (in 1956) until 2004, 200 artists participated in this cooperative, including renowned artists such as Almada Negreiros, António Areal, António Sena, Bartolomeu Cid dos Santos, Carlos Botelho, David Almeida, Eduardo Nery, João Hogan, Jorge Martins, Jorge Vieira, José de Guimarães, Milly Possoz and Querubim Lapa.

In 2013, Culturgest organised the travelling exhibition A doce ácida incisão: A Gravura em contexto (1956-2004) [The sweet acidic incision: Printmaking in context (1956-2004)], curated by David Santos and Delfim Sardo. The exhibition opened at the Museu do Neo-Realismo (Vila Franca de Xira: 23.03 - 23.06.2013) before moving to the Museu Grão Vasco (Viseu: 27.5 - 29-6.2014), the Museu do Côa (Vila Nova de Foz Côa: 5.7 - 28.9.2014), and closing at Círculo das Artes Plásticas de Coimbra - Círculo da Sereia (31.10. 2014 - 03.01.2015).

This exhibition was part of a strategy to decentralise and disseminate the CGD Collection from 2008 under the Collection's conservator, Isabel Corte-Real, and which would be implemented between 2009 and 2021 through municipal partnerships all over mainland Portugal. In all, eight projects with independent curators from different generations and with different backgrounds and approaches to the Collection (also including Jürgen Bock, Pedro Lapa, Sara Antónia Matos, Bruno Marchand, Sandra Vieira Jürgens, Sérgio Mah e Antonia Gaeta) gave rise to 22 exhibitions organised in collaboration with local teams.