Giuseppe "Bepi" Santomaso (1907 – 1990) was an Italian painter and educator.[1][2] Santomaso was an important figure in 20th-century Italian painting,[3][4] and he taught art at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia for 20 years.
Giuseppe Santomaso | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 September 1907 Venice, Veneto, Kingdom of Italy |
| Died | 23 May 1990 (aged 82) Venice, Veneto, Italy |
| Other names | Bepi Santomaso |
| Education | Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia |
| Occupation(s) | Painter, educator |
| Movement | Arte Informale, Lyrical abstraction |
| Awards | Feltrinelli Prize (1983) |
Early life and education
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Giuseppe Santomaso was born on 26 September 1907 in Venice, Veneto region, Kingdom of Italy (now Italy), to parents Ida Cattelan and Filippo Santomaso.[5] His father was a master goldsmith.[1][5]
In childhood he showed a talent in drawing and briefly studied under Venetian painter Luigi Scarpa Croce (1901–1967).[5] In 1926, when he was 18 years old, he showed his work for the first time at Ca 'Pesaro in an exhibitions highlighting young artists at the Bevilacqua la Masa Foundation.[5] From this experience he made friends with art critic Giuseppe Marchiori, and painter Leone Minassian.[5] In 1932, he started his education at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia.[2][6]
Career
editSantomaso's early paintings were influenced by French modernism.[7] In the 1940s, he painted Georges Braque-inspired still lifes, and abstract linear cages (or prisons).[7] In the 1970s he shifted his focus and his renowned series Lettere a Palladio (1977; English: Letters to Palladio) featured abstract geometry influenced by architecture.[8]
In 1934, Santomaso participated in the 19th Venice Biennale, and subsequently exhibited there often in the 1950s, including at the 27th Venice Biennale (1954).[5][9]
In 1946, Santomaso and Emìlio Vedova were introduced by art critic Marchiori to Peggy Guggenheim in Venice.[7][10] In the same year 1946, he signed an antifascist manifesto alongside Giuseppe Marchiori, Renato Birolli, Bruno Cassinari, Renato Guttuso, Ènnio Morlotti, Armando Pizzinato, Emìlio Vedova, Leoncillo Leonardi, and Lorènzo Viani; this group later formed the Fronte Nuovo delle Arti art movement.[11][12]
After the dissolve of the Fronte Nuovo delle Arti in the early 1950s, and by 1952 Santomaso had joined the Group of Eight (art group).[11][9] In the early 1950s he turned towards the Arte Informale art movement.[11] From 1954 to 1974, he taught painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia.[2]
In 1983, he was awarded the Feltrinelli Prize for painting from Accademia dei Lincei.[2] In 1992, the Guggenheim museum featured his Lettere a Palladio series and published a related exhibition book.[11]
Santomaso died on 23 May 1990 in Venice.[5]
References
edit- ^ a b Abbruzzese, Margherita (1961). "Santomaso, Giuseppe, detto Bepi". Enciclopedia Italiana (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ^ a b c d "Santomaso, Giuseppe". Enciclopedia Treccani (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ^ De Grassi, Massimo (2009). "Giuseppe Santomaso e Trieste". Saggi e Memorie di Storia dell'arte (in Italian). 33: 535–548. ISSN 0392-713X. JSTOR 43140984.
- ^ Stringa, Nico (2009). "Sulla pittura e sull'arte: scritti di Giuseppe Santomaso" [it]. Saggi e Memorie di Storia dell'arte. 33: 417–435. ISSN 0392-713X. JSTOR 43140976.
- ^ a b c d e f g Stringa, Nico (2017). "Santomaso, Giuseppe". Dizionario Biografico, Biographical Dictionary of Italians - Volume 90 (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ^ Venturi, Lionello (1959). Italian Painters of Today. Universe Books. p. 166.
- ^ a b c Plant, Margaret (2002-01-01). Venice: Fragile City, 1797-1997. Yale University Press. p. 314. ISBN 978-0-300-08386-6.
- ^ Soccol, Giovanni (2009). "Santomaso: "... io dipingo con l'aria"". Saggi e Memorie di Storia dell'arte (in Italian). 33: 413–416. ISSN 0392-713X. JSTOR 43140975.
- ^ a b Heathcote, Christopher; Audette, Yvonne (2003). Yvonne Audette: Paintings and Drawings 1949-2003. Macmillan Education AU. p. 151. ISBN 978-1-876832-79-7.
- ^ Bellinetti, Caterina (February 7, 2020). "Peggy Guggenheim: The Last Dogaressa". Art & Object. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ^ a b c d "Santomaso, Giusèppe su Enciclopedia". Sapere.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ^ Duran, Adrian R. (2017-07-05). "Painting, Politics, and the New Front of Cold War Italy ". Routledge. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-351-55516-6.