Isabel "Bela" Duarte (1940 — 20 June 2023) was a
Cape Verde
Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...
an artist.
Born on
São Vicente, Cape Verde
São Vicente (Portuguese language, Portuguese for "Vincent of Saragossa, Saint Vincent") is one of the Barlavento Islands, the northern group within the Cape Verde archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, off the West Africa, West African coast. It is ...
in 1940, she studied decorative arts in
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
,
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
and took the drawing course at the . By 1974, she returned to Cape Verde and taught drawing.
[ ] Together with
Manuel Figueira
Manuel Figueira (born November 1, 1938 – died October 8, 2023) was a Cape Verdean artist.
Biography
Figueira was born in the city of Mindelo on the island of São Vicente. When he was a student, he attended the art school of Escola Superior d ...
and
Luísa Queirós,
[ ] she created the ''Cooperativa da Resistência'' (''The Resistance Cooperative''), later the
Centro Nacional de Artesanato (CNA) to preserve traditional Cape Verdean crafts.
[ There she taught weaving, tapestry, and ]batik
Batik is a dyeing technique using wax Resist dyeing, resist. The term is also used to describe patterned textiles created with that technique. Batik is made by drawing or stamping wax on a cloth to prevent colour absorption during the dyein ...
.[
Bela Duarte made her works and painted in oil and acrylic, batik maker, webbing and one other. In 1992, along with Queiros, she presented in a gallery in "azul + azul = verde" for batik, craftsmanship and artist.]Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
, Portugal, France, and the United States.[ For her batik work in 1995, she was received by the national cultural institute the renominated Fonte Lima Prize.
In 2023, she was scheduled to participate in the "Alma das Ilhas Tour" arranged by ]Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Ulisses Correia e Silva
José Ulisses de Pina Correia e Silva (; born 4 June 1962) is a Cape Verdean businessman and politician who has been Prime Minister of Cape Verde since 22 April 2016.
He took office after his party, the Movement for Democracy, won the 20 March ...
.[ ] However, she died in the afternoon on 20 June. The following day, her death was announced by Minister of Culture
A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organiza ...
Luisa, who said her art is "immortalized".[
]
Awards
Source:[
*2010 — First Class of the Ordem do Vulcão
*2018 — First Class of the Mérito da República de Cabo Verde
]
References
External links
Photo of Bela Duarte at Mindelo Infos
Cape Verdean painters
Batik
People from São Vicente, Cape Verde
1940 births
2023 deaths
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