MAN

José Manuel MAN was born in Lisbon on 1 March 1941.

He was a visual arts teacher in secondary education (1976/06). He ran short courses in screen printing at the Centro de Formação de Professores de Cascais (1999/04). He produced a set of 22 paintings on the Portuguese athletes at the Olympic Games (1988) and a 160 m² ceramic mural at the Escola Secundária de S. João do Estoril (1998). He founded the poetry group Palavras Vivas, which he directed and in which he performed (1998/06). He was a director of VIRAGEM, Associação de Artes Plásticas de Cascais, from its foundation (1983), and Chairman of the Board (1986/92). He has been a member of the board of the General Assembly of the Sociedade Nacional de Belas-Artes (SNBA) since 2002.

He held a grant from the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (1968), at GRAVURA, which published his work. He is referenced in various art books and in the Grande Livro dos Portugueses (Círculo de Leitores, 1991). Among other projects, he organised the exhibition 56 Artistas da António Arroio (1986). His work is represented in the Museu de Södertälje (Sweden), Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Museu Nacional de Desporto, Museu Malhoa, Museu de Luanda, Museu Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Museu Amadeo Souza-Cardoso, Centro de Arte Contemporânea (Amadora), Museu da Cidade (Lisbon) and Fundação D. Luís (Cascais), as well as in other bodies, municipal museums and private collections.

He began working in journalism (1972) and practised it professionally at República (1975). He is the author of the books Companheiros da Minha Estrada (2001), A Vi(r)agem de Um Sonho Interrompido (2012), A Corrida no Concelho de Cascais (2013), Armando Aldegalega, Uma Vida a Correr por Paixão (2023) and A Minha História de Vida (2025). He competed in weightlifting (1967/74), serving as Chairman of the Board of the respective Federation (1974/77), and in running (1979/2015), a sport in which he took part in five hundred races, including nine marathons.

Since 1959 he has held 51 solo exhibitions and has been represented in more than two hundred group exhibitions, among which the following stand out:

Group exhibitions (in Portugal)

2005: VIII Bienal de Artes Plásticas Cidade do Montijo.

2002: 100 Anos 100 Artistas, at the SNBA.

1997: IX Bienal da Vila Nova de Cerveira, Prémio Nacional de Pintura Júlio Resende.

1997/2009: I, II, III, IV, V, VII Prémio Amadeu de Souza-Cardoso, Amarante.

1988: I Bienal de Gravura da Amadora; II Bienal dos Açores e Atlântico.

1986: III Bienal de Artes Plásticas, Lagos.

1981: Arte Abstrata Portuguesa, at the SNBA.

1976: Gravura Portuguesa, at the Secretaria de Estado da Cultura and the Fundação C. Gulbenkian.

1974: Salão de Março and II Exposição AICA, at the SNBA.

1973: VII Salão de Arte Moderna da Cidade de Luanda.

1972: I Bienal Nacional dos Artistas Novos, Vila Nova de Famalicão.

1970: I Salão Mobil de Arte at the SNBA.

Group exhibitions (abroad)

1999: Pintura Moderna Portuguesa, Brussels.

1988: Prémio di Gráfica, Pomero; Arte Portuguesa Contemporânea, Vilnius.

1978: Gravura Portuguesa Contemporânea, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Brasília and Florence.

1977: Gravura Moderna Portuguesa, Belgrade, Athens and Madrid.

1976: Arte Moderna Portuguesa at the Galeria NIKI, Tokyo; Pintura Contemporânea Portuguesa, Södertälje, Stockholm and Caracas; Jovem Pintura Portuguesa, Centro Cultural da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Paris.

1975: Gravura Moderna Portuguesa, Teatro Nacional de Bucareste.

1974: Bienal Ibizagrafic 74, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Ibiza.

1973: XII Prémio Internacional de Dibuix Joan Miró, Munich.

1972: IV Biennale de la Gravura, Museu Nacional de Cracóvia.

1970: 41st Seattle Print Exhibition, Washington; IX Prémio Dibuix Joan Miró, Barcelona.