The complete name of the woman portrayed in this image is Alice Soeiro Pereira Gomes Casais Monteiro (1910-1983). This name hints at a double kinship to literature – to the writer Soeiro Pereira Gomes, her brother, and to the poet and essayist Adolfo Casais Monteiro, her husband.

 

In this image, Lemos dispensed with any obvious photographic artifice, using only natural light to illuminate Alice Gomes in a classic pose; in this sense, the image contrasts with the person it pictures, a teacher who was deeply interested in innovative teaching methods and employed much effort in the renewal of the Portuguese education system, having been co-founder and president of the Portuguese Association for Education by Art. Besides devoting herself to pedagogy, Alice Gomes also contributed much to the promotion of children’s literature and theater through her short stories, poetry and plays, as well as translations and essays.

 

 

JO

 

May 2010