Charters de Almeida. La costruzione della forma tra architettura e scultura. Alcune opere. 1983 - 2004

The work of Portuguese sculptor João Charters de Almeida, who trained at the Academy of Pine Arts of Oporto, initially went through a figurative phase marked by powerful expressiveness and exuberance, Charters de Almeida then embarked on a different path, one that explores his art's confines with architecture and its identification with the landscape.
This publication accompanies the exhibitions organised at four Italian university architecture departments On Cesena, Venice, Milan and Turin) about the works designed for public space over the past twenty years, in urban or natural settings. In city centres, on the outskirts and in the country, sculpture demonstrates its ability to redefine the character and identity o1-' places, and to act as a "borderline art" that can play a new public and civic role. The essays by Renato Bocchi, Gianni Braghieri, José Charters Monteiro, Gianni Contessi, Carlo Olmo and Daniele Vitale offer different viewpoints interpreting the works of Charters de Almeida, discussing the prospects and potential of sculpture.
João Charters de Almeida rva.s born in Lisbon on 12 July 1935. He studied sculpture at, the Academy of Fine Arts in Oporto, graduating in 1962. He subsequently worked there as an assistant and then as a professor. Since 1972 he has devoted his time entirely to his work as a sculptor. His works are collected in museums and important private collections, Charters de Almeida has completed various large-scale works, juxtaposed with architecture and the landscape, in Portugal, the United States, Europe and Asia.