The foundations of his innovative ethnographic ideas were outlined in a manifesto published in the first fascicle of his series Arte Popular Portuguesa [Portuguese Folk Art] (published in A Águia [The Eagle], 1915, in three fascicles), although they remained unfinished. His main contributions to ethnography can be found in various scattered studies and brief notes, some of which were later compiled in Etnografia Artística [Art Ethnography]. Notas de Etnografia Portuguesa e Italiana [Notes on Portuguese and Italian Ethnography], (1916). His study Arte Popular Portuguesa introduced the first methodological approach to analysing folk art within the context of ethnographic and anthropological research in Portugal, at a time when the boundaries between these two disciplines were still undefined. He examined objects from two perspectives: tangible works (such as architecture, embroidery, textiles, tapestries, pottery, jewellery, basket weaving, clothing, and agricultural implements) and intangible works (including traditions, songs, literature, and music), aiming to highlight their aesthetic and ornamental qualities.

His focus on art created by lower-status people, often for utilitarian purposes, foreshadowed its use in Estado Novo propaganda, where it became part of the folklorisation of national identity. His works, particularly his article O Carro Rural [The Rural Cart] (1940) (“ Metamorfoses da arte popular…”, 2002, p. 263), were instrumentalised for this purpose. While his ethnographic studies aimed to bridge the gap between popular artistic objects and the discipline of Art History — striving to include these objects in art textbooks — some of his writings reveal a significant divide between high art and folk culture. In certain works, he describes folk art as somewhat primitive, rudimentary, and limited, or, more delicately, as simple, naïve, and modest ( A Águia, 1915), even comparing it to primitive art.

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