Lettering Design in Raul Lino’s Work: Humanism, Nature and Tradition in Architecture, Graphic Arts and Design

Abstract

Raul Lino's work is often connoted with the image of Estado Novo and with Português Suave, an architectural style with a partly degenerate and retrograde taste. However, this view does not consider that a part of his most important work, which in addition to architecture covers various decorative arts, was developed before that Portuguese dictatorial period; just as it tends to forget the centrality of its humanist and naturalist character. This study analyses the graphic work of this architect, in particular the lettering, which covers periodicals and book publishing, architecture or graphic brands. Much of this work is linked to education, due to the relationship that Lino established with the writer Afonso Lopes Vieira and his children's literature, or with the João de Deus Kindergartens. This less studied part of Lino's work not only reflects the idea of a total work of art, of integrity and application of values and beauty to everyday life and its artefacts; as it underlines the importance given to calligraphy; or to the mixture between erudite and popular tastes, of national or regional nature. Recovering these values is urgent today, insofar as the digitization of reality and our day-to-day life, even if inevitable and partly necessary, has tended to relegate the importance of craftsmanship, of Man's relationship with nature and a way of thinking linked to the body and to doing. And as has been proven, these values are decisive in the construction of straight, creative citizens with respect for Others, Nature and the Earth.

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Author Information
Regina Delfino, Techn&Art – Technology, Restoration and Arts Enhancement Center, Polytechnic Institute of Tomar, Portugal
Pedro Matos, Techn&Art – Technology, Restoration and Arts Enhancement Center, Polytechnic Institute of Tomar, Portugal
Inês Serrano, Techn&Art – Technology, Restoration and Arts Enhancement Center, Polytechnic Institute of Tomar, Portugal
Anabela Moreira, Techn&Art – Technology, Restoration and Arts Enhancement Center, Polytechnic Institute of Tomar, Portugal

• Category: Local Art and Design History

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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