Cristiano Cruz

Cristiano Cruz (6 May 1892 – 21 October 1951) was a veterinarian, painter, illustrator, and caricaturist who was part of the first generation of Portuguese modernism. His innovative artistic career was brief but influential, beginning roughly in 1909 and ending abruptly in 1919, when he decided to leave for Portuguese Mozambique and abandon art to dedicate himself exclusively to veterinary medicine.

Early life Cruz was born in Leiria on 6 May 1892. He was the son of Alfredo Eduardo Cruz and Berta Sheppard. The British surname of his mother caused some confusion about his full name, as did the spelling of his first name. He was variously known as Christiano Alfredo Shepard Cruz, Cristiano Sheppard Cruz, Cristiano Cruz or Christiano Cruz. His family were republicans. Without artistic training, he relied on drawings in newspapers and magazines to provide his knowledge of artistic techniques. Initially, his work revealed considerable humour and social criticism but he would later partly distance himself from this attitude, stating, in a May 1914 interview, "Let's not criticize, let's make art". A Bomba (1912), and A Farça (1909-1910).

From 1913 his style evolved, becoming more expressive, paving the way for the final phase of his work. In 1915, he began experimenting with painting in small-format works, further questioning his initial rigid and ascetic drawing to discover the potential of expressionism, in which colour played a fundamental role. He participated with nine of these works in the First Exhibition of Humourists and Modernists in Porto, but the critical reception was less favourable than it had been in Lisbon. For the following year's exhibition, he sent just a single work.

Death Cruz died in Silva Porto, Angola on 21 October 1951. Among others, his work is held by the Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea do Chiado and the Gulbenkian Centro de Arte Moderna, both in Lisbon.