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Born in Funchal, Madeira Island. She attended the School of Fine Arts in Lisbon where she studied painting (1950-1956). Having moved to Paris in 1958, she returned to Madeira in 1983, where she lives. She and her husband René Bertholo were founder members of the KWY group, with Christo, Jan Voss, João Vieira, José Escada, Gonçalo Duarte and others. In the early 1960s she began to collect common everyday objects, which she covered with silver paint. Her work with objects opened up the possibilities of representing the shadow. She created her first works using shadows and outlines and published, together with Benjamin Patterson Prints and Comments (1962). Her research spread progressively from silkscreen painting and Plexiglas to canvas and cloth (sheets). In the process, her contoured and painted shadows evolved into "reclining shadows" which culminated in "Moving shadows" or shadow theatre (1973). Since then she has continually exhibited shadows in many European countries. She has taken part in several international exhibitions of painting, artist's books and Mail Art. Solo exhibitions (selection): 1966 Baden-Baden, Stattliche Kunsthalle, 1967 Indica Gallery, London, Gallery 20, Amsterdam, 1971 Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, Akademie der Künste (with René Bertholo). Group shows (selection): 1959 V Bienal de São Paulo (and 1985); 1960 Grupo KWY, Universidty of Saarbrüken, Germany, SNBA, Lisbon; 1961 Gal. Le Soleil dans la Tête, Paris, 1st Paris Biennale, 1972-74 AICA, SNBA, Lisbon; 1977 Boite, ARC, Paris, 1985 Dialogue, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation CAM, Lisbon, 1988 Vraiement faux, Fondation Cartier, Paris. Retrospective at the Gulbenkian Foundation in 1992. Lourdes Castro represented Portugal, together with Francisco Tropa, in the São Paulo Biennale 1998.

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