Bio
Júlio
Júlio dos Reis Pereira was born in Vila do Conde in 1902 and died in the same town in 1983. He signed his visual work as Julio and his literary work as Saúl Dias. He graduated in Civil Engineering from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto and also spent two years at the Porto School of Fine Arts.
He belongs to the second generation of Portuguese modernism. Despite his time at the academy, he took an anti-academic stance, defending complete freedom and a lyrical expressiveness. From 1935 he devoted himself exclusively to drawing, in large series, generally without colour and with a simple line. In 1972 he returned to painting and to the aesthetic of his early years, combining a caricatural eye with a dreamlike dimension, above all in his depiction of character types from urban society.
He first exhibited in 1930, at the Salão dos Independentes, and held his first solo exhibition in 1934 at the Sociedade Nacional de Belas-Artes. Regular shows followed at Galeria UP (1938), Galeria Buchholz (1944), Galeria Pórtico (1955) and Galeria Diário de Notícias (1959 and 1964), among others. He took part in the 2nd São Paulo Biennial in 1953 and in EXPO AICA SNBA in 1972, and received the first prize for drawing at the 4th Estoril Autumn Salon.
He contributed to the magazine "Presença" between 1927 and 1940 and illustrated works by his brother, José Régio, including the cover of his first book. As Saúl Dias he published six books, among them "Obra Poética" (1967), which received the Critics’ Prize in 1980.
In 2016 the Galeria Julio and the Julio/Saúl Dias Study Centre opened in Vila do Conde, housing part of his work and his collection of Redondo ceramics. He is represented in the collections of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s Modern Art Centre, with works such as "Tarde de festa" (1925), "Nocturno" (1929) and "O burguês e a menina" (1931), and of MACAM.
