António
Portuguese cartoonist and caricaturist, António Moreira Antunes was born on 12th April 1953, in Vila Franca de Xira.
His activity as a cartoonist began in 1974, in the newspaper República, and in that same year he began his long collaboration with the weekly Expresso, founded in January 1973.
In that newspaper he shows all his talent and graphic evolution, first in black and white in the main section, then in colour on the last page of the supplement "A Revista", during the period in which he illustrated the column "Afetos", scathing chronicles by João Carreira Bom, then still appearing on the first page of the main section, where he portrays in a unique way one of the main events of the week.
It was in an illustration of a chronicle of João Carreira Bom that António represented Pope John Paul II with a condom on his nose (in 1992), in what was perhaps his most polemic work. In addition to Caricatures of politicians or situations that have become famous (such as the relationship between Mário Soares and Cavaco Silva), António has a series of notable "portraits" of some of the biggest names in areas such as literature or science, such as Camilo Castelo Branco, Eça de Queirós, Virgílio Ferreira, Umberto Eco and Sigmund Freud.
Besides Expresso, António has published works in periodicals as diverse as Vida Mundial, Diário de Notícias, A Capital (1976), Diário Popular and Mundial (1996), besides collaborating with RTP and Lisbon City Hall.
He has published several books, which are compilations of his works published in the periodic press, especially those of Expresso.
He has held various solo exhibitions in Portugal, such as the one commemorating his first twenty years as a caricaturist, at Casino Estoril (1994), but also in Brazil, Germany, Spain and France. He also marked his presence in many collective exhibitions, besides the work sessions with Asian cartoonists invited by UNESCO, in Kuala Lampur, Manila and Cebu, in 1989.
He is considered the most renowned Portuguese cartoonist, having received, among other awards, the Grand Prize of the Salon International de Cartoon de Montreal, Canada (1983), 1st Prize for Editorial Cartoon of the Salon Editorial de Cartoon de Montreal, Canada (2002) and the 1st Prize for Editorial Cartoon of the Salon International de Cartoon de Montreal, Canada (2003). He was awarded the Grand Prize of the Salon International de Cartoon of Montreal, Canada (1986), Grand Prize of the Salon National de Caricatura (1988, 1989 and 1992), Press Cartoon Prize of the Salon National de Caricatura (1990, 1991, 1994 and 1995), National Cartoon Prize of the Journalists' Club (1992), Grand Prix of Honour from the Festival du Dessin Humoristique de Anglet, France (1993), Award of Excellence - The Best of Newspaper Design from SND in Stockholm, Sweden (1998), the Premio Internazionale Satira Politica from Forte Dei Marmi, Italy (2002) and the Stuart Award for Press Cartoon (2005).
His works are highly appreciated in the United States of America (USA), being distributed there by the Cartoonists & Writers Syndicate, of New York, being his work referenced in important anthologies of caricature in the USA.
