Manuel Cabanas

My friend Pedro from Portugal attended me to Manuel Cabanas, a little known Portuguese artist.

Manuel Cabanas dos Santos (1902 - 1995), was an autodidact a master of woodcut and a Republican Portuguese, founding member of the Socialist Party of Portugal.

During the 1920, Cabanas worked for the railways and became a leading member of the Railways Union, mobilizing the working classes to stand for their rights, which at that time was considered a crime by the subversive fascist regime.

From 1938, Manuel Cabanas began an intense artistic activity in the field of wood engraving and in 1939 he began to exhibit his work, which earned him several awards, including the Gold Medal of Fine Arts.

During the 1940s, 50s and 60s he headed the campaigns for the opposition in the District of Setúbal and was the representative of the opposition presidential candidates.

In 1985, Manuel Cabanas was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Liberty, the degree of Commander by the then president General Ramalho Eanes. In 1991, he was awarded the degree of Commander of the Order of Infante D. Henrique.

Died at the age of 93, on May 25, 1995, in hospital in Faro. His art collection is now in the custody of the Centro Cultural António Aleixo in VR de Santo António.