Behind the curtain: reinventing set design in Portuguese theater

During the early 20th century modernization of the Portuguese theatrical scene, scenography - the design of the sets - also underwent a deep transformation.

This would have not been possible without the creativity and imagination of modern artists...

Portuguese set design was highly original. But it was given an injection of creativity by foreign designers like Bibiena - set designer for Lisbon's 18th-century Tagus opera house.

Later, artists like Rambois, Cinatti and Manini, who worked in Lisbon's new theaters and the San Carlos opera house.

The great 19th-century expansion of Portuguese theater raised the need for a a school of scenography.

Established later that century with the support of foreign teachers, the school united skilled artists who drove the renewal of set design practices.

Since the 1950s, avant-garde theater companies and producers have challenged contemporary artists and creators to innovate on stage.

Some of the most creative Portuguese set design artists worked from the 1950s to the first decade of the 21st century.

After 1880, the famous Italian set designer Luigi Manini contributed to the renewal of the Portuguese theatrical scene, working for productions by the Rosas & Brasão company.

His rigorous designs and sumptuous colors created realistic environments and dramatic sets to the Shakespeare repertoire and other plays. The school he founded taught a whole new generation of artists.

Augusto Pina was the most gifted of Manini's pupils and succeded his master as Rosas e Brasão company's designer from 1894 onwards.

Most of his works are supremely detailed watercolors. He became a scenography teacher at the Lisbon theater school.

During the first early 20th century, mainstream set design practice was dominated by Luís Amâncio and his colleagues - followers of Pina. Amâncio had a long career, lasting until the late 1940s.

But his conservative approach was soon to be challenged by a new generation.

The change in style is easily recognizable in modernist set designs from the 1910s.

This modern interior by Jorge Barradas is one of the earliest examples but other artists like José Pacheko, Alice Rey Colaço, Leitão de Barros and António Soares also designed in a modernist style.

Jorge Barradas was among the most important Portuguese modernist artists and had a long career as a painter and designer.

During the 1910s, Amélia Rey Colaço became one of Portuguese theater's leading actresses and directors.

Her sister, artist Alice Rey Colaço designed sets for Amélia's productions, expressing the same spirit of change.

Alice's career was brief, and irregular, interrupted by her marriage and devotion to classical singing.

Her designs exhibit an elegant modern style which perfectly suited the innovative productions of her sister's company.

One of the key figures of the modernist movement, José Leitão de Barros, began working for theater as a critic and set designer in the early 1920s.

But influenced by his watercolors, he took a more conservative approach in his art and design works. His stage experience informed his later work organizing national historical parades.

This set of an elegant art deco-style lobby with an abstract painting was designed by the painter António Soares, one of the most significant Portuguese modernist artists.

He sensitively applied the knowledge acquired on his visit to the Paris 1925's International Design Exhibition, in which art deco style prevailed.

He worked extensively for theater, creating magnificent set and costume designs.

The influential Portuguese architect Raul Lino became famous for his "Casa Portuguesa" (Portuguese traditional house) - a controversial concept.

He also produced set designs with a special balance between modernity and tradition.

Maria Adelaide de Lima Cruz was one of the more prolific modernist set designers.

With a vast production of set and costume designs, she worked primarily for the Portuguese vaudeville "Revista à Portuguesa" dressing and designing numerous productions from the 1920s.

She also designed set and costumes for productions of the Paris "Casino" theater.

One of the modernist artists that worked almost exclusively for theater was José Barbosa.

Like Maria Adelaide de Lima Cruz, he designed sets and costumes for vaudeville from the 1920s onwards, with a personal modernist style.

The Teatro do Povo, or People's theater, was founded and supervised by the Portuguese Ministry of Propaganda with the intention of spreading political and cultural ideas among illiterate population.

It was active from 1936 until the 1960s.

The painter Carlos Botelho designed a large number of sets for the company, applying a modern style.

Even though he belonged to the set design "old school", Luís Salvador was a very flexible set designer, working in different styles.

This work reveals his deep understanding of and commitment to modernist aesthetic values.

Just like Botelho, Abílio Matos e Silva was a very productive set designer for Teatro do Povo productions during the long period the company was active.

He also designed extensively for dance.

From the 1930s - 1960s, Pinto de Campos was a handicraftsman of "Revista à Portuguesa" vaudeville design productions.

He collaborated with many theater companies, with huge success.

His exuberant style of set and costume design defined the era of the musical theater.

Pupil of Augusto Pina and collaborator with Alfredo Furiga, António Casimiro was a very creative set designer and teacher who stood out against his contemporaries creating spaces for productions of several modern Portuguese theater companies.

Painter and designer Francisco Relógio worked for the stage, expressing some of his graphic background with forms reminiscent of Fernand Léger's works as well as some neo-realistic features, as he revealed in the graphic character of this poster/set design.

Gracinda Candeias, a renowned painter, produced several set designs for the "Revista à Portuguesa" late shows just before that theatrical genre all but disappeared.

Painter and sculptor Pedro Calapez, an artist with strong international reputation, worked frequently for theater productions, incorporating in his set designs important traces of his work, like in the set design for Zerlina.