Engravings, etchings and sculptures by Günter Grass on display in Porto

The House Museum Guerra Junqueiro opens the exhibition "Encontros" featuring visual art works by controversial German Nobel Prize winner for Literature Günter Grass (1927-2015), on 2 March.

The exhibit is open to the general public, and it is schedule to start at 6 pm. This event will be attended by Tilman Spengler and Katja Lange-Müller, both members of the writers' circle fostered by Günter Grass. The circle of writers has been meeting for 13 years now at the Lübecker Literaturtreffen (in English, Lübecker Literary Meetings), every winter for one weekend.

Both writers will make a presentation of the display and the recitation of poems by the author of Die Blechtrommel (in English, The Tin Drum).

This exhibit marks the 90 years of Günter Grass birth, who has visited Portugal for a number of times, since the eighties, where he would find some peace of mind to write or to be.

This exhibit shows Günter's drawings where he explores some of his favourite motifs such as birds and mushrooms, wood and roots, leaves, feathers and stones, snails, fossils, bones, and skeletons, all affected by decay and weathering.

A curiosity is the fact that the display shows some seashells, clamps or pebbles from the beaches in the Algarve that Günter collected.

Günter Grass passed away at the age of 87 in 2015, and has contributed significantly to the cultural scene in Portugal, either through exhibitions or readings. The writer was also a sculptor and a visual artist. He was friends with Portuguese Nobel Prize winner for Literature, José Saramago.

In the last days of his life, Günter Grass was sorry he couldn't travel to "his beautiful Portugal" for health reasons.

The last book he wrote was "Vonne Endlichkait" on the physical limits of a declining and mortal body. It was published after his death.

The exhibit, produced by graphic designer Arne Kaiser will be on show in Porto till 23 September.

This is an initiative by Goethe-Institut Portugal jointly with the Günter and Ute Grass Foundation, the Günter Grass-Haus, the House Museum Guerra Junqueiro and Porto city Hall, with the support of the German Embassy, the Association São Bartolomeu dos Alemães and Niepoort.

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"Encontros"

Starting 2 march

From Tuesday to Sunday 10 am/5.30 pm

Closes Mondays and public holidays

Entrance free

House Museum Guerra Junqueiro

Rua de Dom Hugo, 32 (à Sé)

Phone: 222 003 689

museuguerrajunqueiro@cm-porto.pt