Bertina Lopes: [exposição] Conseiho Executivo, República de Moçambique, 5-30 julho 1994. Maputo: Ministério dos Negócops Extrangeiros, Ministério da Cultura e Juventude, 1994. 71pp. illus. ND1097.6.M63L67 1994 AFA. OCLC 39540611.
This exhibition catalog is a tribute to Mozambican artist Bertina Lopes rather than a critical study of her work. She has lived most of her adult life outside of Mozambique, in Portugal and Italy, apart from nine years in the 1950s when she taught art in Maputo. But the artist retains ties to her natal country and in 1994 was invited for this exhibition on the occasion of Mozambique’s 19th Independence anniversary.
Bertina Lopes: dipinti e sculture 1861-2000: una radice antica / curated by Enrico Crispoiti. Milan: Silvana, 2002. 95pp. illus. (color). ND1097.6.M63L672 2002 AFA. OCLC 49791044.
Mozambican artist Bertina Lopes, based for many years in Rome, retains a strong spiritual link to her country of birth. Her first solo exhibition was in Maputo in 1958, and she has pursued an active artistic career ever since. Her work displays a deep African sensibility with saturated colors and bold compositions of mask-like figures and geometric forms. Best known as a painter, Lopes also sculpts in metal. Biodata is included.
Bertina Lopes: I Colori della Pace / curated by Claudio Crescentini and Massimo Domenicucci. Rome: Palombi, 2012. 92pp. illus. (some color), bibliog. (pp. 83–91). Text in Italian and Portuguese. N7397.6.M63 L672 2012 AFA. OCLC 819377526.
This catalogue was published for an exhibition of Bertina Lopes’ work held at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome. The exhibition was held on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the General Peace Accord in Mozambique, where Lopes was born and raised. The catalogue is illustrated in color and includes tributes and short essays on Lopes and her work. Also included is a biography of the artist.
Bertina Lopes: la realtà del colore: Rimini, Museo della Città, 18 marzo-8 maggio 2006, Roma, Archivio Centrale dello Stato, 18 luglio-10 settembre 2006 / exhibition and catalog, curated by Claudio Crescentini and Giuliana Gardelli. Roma: Erreciemme, 2006. 126 pp. illus. (chiefly color), bibliog. (p. 109-114). ND1097.6.M63 L672 2006 AFA. OCLC: 71216812.
The 2006 exhibition and catalog of Bertina Lopes are primarily tributes to the artist. Nineteen tributes, a few of which are essay length, are followed by her artwork—paintings and figurative bronzes. The art is presented chronologically, which is helpful to appreciate her evolution as an artist. Most are from her own collection.
Bertina Lopes: tracciati e percorsi 1998-1958. Orvieto: Palazzo dei Sette, 1998. 75pp. illus. (color). ND1097.6.M63L673 1998 AFA. OCLC 55028739.
For Bertina Lopes, the road out of Mozambique, her land of birth (Portuguese father, Mozambican mother), is also the way home; fundamentally, she has never left. Although living overseas for many years, she is drawn back again and again through her work. This catalog of an exhibition held at Palazzo dei Sette, Orvieto, Italy, December 1998 to January 1999, retrospectively moves backward in time from 1998 to her artistic debut in 1958. Most of the paintings illustrated here are from her own collection.
Crescentini, Claudio. Bertina Lopes: arte e antagonism. Rome: Erreciemme, 2017. 119 pp. illus. (chiefly color). ND1097.6.M6 L862 2017 AFA. OCLC 987011263.
Art historian Claudio Crescentini, an Italian scholar and curator, knew Bertina Lopes very well. His book, published five years after she died, is the story of the woman as well as her oeuvre. The title “Arte et antagonismo” (Art and antagonism) suggests her paths of departure from and returning to Mozambique and her African origins and her European influences. She admired Picasso and other early modernists immensely. But she retained her ‘Africaness’ in her figurative paintings as well as her abstract paintings and bronze sculptures. Lopes connections with many artists, poets, curators and politicians are documented in the photographs in this book—supplied by the Bertina Lopes Archive in Rome.
Crescentini, Claudio. Bertina Lopes: tutto (o quasi). Roma: Palombi editore, 2013. 223pp. illus. (some color), bibl. refs. Text in Italian; biography in English & Portuguese. ND1097.6.M63 L6733 2013 AFA. OCLC 880518327.
Bertina Lopes (1924-2012) was a transnational artist—before we popularized that moniker. Born in Mozambique, lived in Lisbon and Rome, returned to Mozambique, she retained her spiritual connections to the land of her birth. Her art throughout her long life reflects her African roots in themes, aesthetics, and color. This biography published in the year after her death includes many archival photographs of family and friends as well as tributes by those who knew her. Images of her art are all black-&-white.
Expressão artística entre duas civilizações. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1993. [83]pp. illus. (pt. color). ND1097.6.M6L86 1993 AFA. OCLC 30387608.
A retrospective of thirty years of Bertina Lopes' painting marks a successful career for this Mozambican woman, who has lived most of her adult life in Italy. Her African roots are evident in the vivid color, rich texture and dramatic forms of her painting; her painting style is abstract. Twenty-eight paintings are reproduced in color plus a series of bronzes executed in 1979. Tributes and short essays about the life and work of Bertina Lopes are contributed to this catalog by Simonetta Lux, Enrico Crispoldi, Nello Ponente, and Dario Micacchi.
Lopes, Bertina. Bertina Lopes: homenagem. Maputo, Mozambique: Madeira & Madeira, 2012. 63 pp. illus. (color), portraits. Text in Portuguese. ND1097.6.M63 L6725 2012 AFA. OCLC 864698358.
Bertina Lopes died in February 2012. Five months later, she was honored with an exhibition in her country of birth, held at Museu Nacional de Arte (Maputo, Mozambique), July 24-September 24, 2012. In this catalog Alda Costa and Julieta Massimbe each offer tributes to the artist and her art. The selection of her paintings in the catalog are presented in a more or less chronological order. So we see how her work evolves. The chronological bibliography covers writing about her in Maputo, from 1950 to 2015.
Lopes, Bertina. Dentro la vita Bertina Lopes curated by Claudio Crescentini. Roma: Genestampa,1996. 48 pp. illus. (color). Text in English and Italian. ND1097.6.M6 L862 1996 AFA. OCLC 42634499.
By the time this exhibition “Dentro la vita Bertina Lopes” occurred in 1996, Lopes was well established in Rome and was recognized by several international art awards. Her paintings convey both African and European relationships—cultural dialectics. She was committed to freedom and political activism, especially for her homeland of Mozambique. Essays by Simonetta Lux and Enrico Crispolti discuss her artistic styles, themes, and her dedication to humanity.
