Forty years after his death, the life and artistic legacy of Francisco Coelho Maduro Dias — one of the most singular cultural figures ever produced by Terceira Island — is being revisited in a new book that seeks to illuminate the extraordinary breadth of his creative world.

Titled Mestre Maduro Dias: um poliedro de quantos lados? (“Master Maduro Dias: A Polyhedron of How Many Sides?”), the volume explores the multiple artistic dimensions of a man who refused to exist within a single discipline. Poet, painter, sculptor, illustrator, teacher, stage designer, architect, and director, Maduro Dias belonged to that increasingly rare generation of island intellectuals for whom art was not a profession alone, but a total way of inhabiting the world.

“What happened with my father was an enormous variety of things,” historian Francisco Maduro-Dias, the artist’s son and editorial coordinator of the book, told Diário Insular. “You cannot simply say he was a painter, or a ceramist, or a sculptor. What you can say is that he created sculpture, ceramics, painting — and much more.”

The book, financed by the Caixa Económica da Misericórdia de Angra do Heroísmo as part of the institution’s 130th anniversary commemorations, received a pre-launch presentation on April 26 and will officially be launched June 13 at the Biblioteca Luís da Silva Ribeiro.

Born in Angra do Heroísmo on February 12, 1904, Francisco Coelho Maduro Dias left behind five published books of poetry, short fiction, visual art, architectural works, theatrical productions, graphic design, and public artistic interventions that helped shape the cultural imagination of the Azores throughout much of the twentieth century.

Yet despite the breadth of his output, much of his artistic legacy remained scattered for decades between family archives, institutional collections, and the holdings of the Museum of Angra do Heroísmo.

“There was never a minimally organized reading of his personality or artistic trajectory,” Francisco Maduro-Dias (son) explained.

That absence of consolidated recognition became one of the driving motivations behind the new publication.

In the book’s preface, António Maio, president of the board of the Caixa Económica da Misericórdia de Angra do Heroísmo and someone who personally knew the artist, recalls conversations with the poet’s son that revealed a longstanding desire to gather and preserve Maduro Dias’s dispersed work.

“Having accepted the challenge, gathered the necessary will, and aligned the ideas, we now have this publication to introduce the contemporary world to the legacy of a remarkable Terceirense artist who, despite having died only forty years ago, still does not enjoy the broad recognition his work deserves,” Maio writes.

Although coordinating the project, Francisco Maduro-Dias deliberately chose not to dominate its critical interpretation, preferring instead to invite independent voices capable of approaching his father’s work from broader artistic perspectives.

In addition to contributions by grandson Miguel Maduro-Dias and Joana Moreira of beOMNIExpression, the volume includes essays by literary scholar Carlos Reis on Maduro Dias’s poetry and art historian Diana Gonçalves Santos of the Regional Directorate of Culture, who examines the transversal nature of his visual arts practice.

The publication also reproduces works spanning multiple artistic forms, from the iconic pavement design of Praça Velha in Angra do Heroísmo to a portrait of Vitorino Nemésio and even illustrations created for the cover of Diário Insular.

For Francisco Maduro-Dias, however, the true significance of the book lies not simply in documenting artistic output, but in revealing the ethical and communal spirit underlying it.

“The book reveals an individual with many facets and enormous quality,” he said, “but above all a person whose work was rooted in a deep availability toward the community, a desire to do things well, and a desire to elevate the place where one lives.”

That unity between artistic disciplines, he argues, was central to his father’s identity.

“In reality, the poet never forgets space,” he reflected. “Painting, sculpture, architecture — they are all present in the poetry. And when he creates sculpture, architecture, or graphic design, the poet is still there. In truth, he was a human being who was precisely this polyhedron of countless sides.”

Although Maduro Dias traveled to Lisbon to study Fine Arts, he ultimately returned to Terceira before completing his degree for reasons beyond his control. He spent nearly all his life on the island, yet remained intellectually connected to the wider artistic currents of Europe and North America.

“He had his feet in Terceira and his head in the world,” his son said.

According to Francisco Maduro-Dias, his father subscribed to French, English, and American art magazines at a time when such access was extraordinarily rare in the Azores. Those publications, many of which remain preserved in the family home, allowed him to remain connected to international artistic movements throughout the 1920s, 30s, 40s, and 50s.

“He was the pure demonstration that living here did not prevent anyone from creating work of international quality,” his son emphasized.

The resulting book, he added, emerged from what he described as “a fortunate convergence of willingness and possibility,” with financial support from the Caixa Económica da Misericórdia and technical cooperation from the Regional Directorate of Culture of the Azores.