José Vilhena (by Rui Zink)

This album brings together works by José Vilhena scattered across the publications “A Gaiola Aberta”, “O Fala Barato”, “O Cavaco” and “O Moralista”, adding previously unpublished paintings.

José Vilhena’s work reflects the ironic gaze he extended from the political arena to eroticism, sparing neither the contradictions of the dictatorship nor those of the post-April 25 period. The unauthorized biography of the years surrounding April 25 appeared fortnightly in “Gaiola Aberta”, while the normalization of the country gave way to the monthly publications “O Fala Barato”, “Cavaco” or “O Moralista”.

To the many satirical “cartoons”, the “José Vilhena” album adds, according to the publisher, “a book of painting and drawing”, featuring portraits “of the spirit and form, the form of the spirit and the spirit of form. And, of course, of women”.

José Vilhena (1927–2015) was one of the most singular and irreverent figures in 20th-century Portuguese culture. A visual artist, illustrator, writer and humorist, he created a body of work marked by satire and social criticism during the era of censorship. His caricatures—immediate, incisive and deeply political—attacked moralism, authority and institutional hypocrisy, causing him successive problems with the Estado Novo regime.

At the same time, he published dozens of books and graphic humor magazines, many produced in an artisanal and clandestine manner, which became cult items. In his drawing, he cultivated an expressive and unpretentious line, capable of reducing a public figure to their most vulnerable or ridiculous trait.

Vilhena made satire a form of resistance and laughter an act of freedom. His work continues to be remembered for its courage, originality and the way it challenged the political and cultural conventions of its time.