Afro Basaldella

Born at Udine (Venetia), Italy. His real name is Afro Basaldella. Studied art in Venice. Exhibited his work for the first time in a one-man show at the Galleria del Milione, Milan, where the avant-garde Italian painters forgathered in the thirties. Executed a mosaic decoration (now destroyed) for a school in his home town in 1936; and, in 1937, fresco decorations for the Albergo delle Rose and the Villa del Profeta at Rhodes. During the war years he continued to work in a figurative style; but by the end of the war, following up the lesson of Cubism, he had arrived at complete abstraction. He worked on in seclusion and refused to join the Fronte Nuovo delle Arti formed in 1946. But in 1952 he helped to found the group of Eight Italian Painters, who exhibited together at the 1952 Venice Biennale. His first American exhibition was held in 1948. Two years later he paid a visit to the United States and exhibited at the Viviano Gallery, New York. Since 1938 he has taken part regularly in the Venice Biennale (except in 1948 and 1958); awarded the grand prize for an Italian painter in 1956. Served as a jury member at the Carnegie International in Pittsburgh in 1955 and awarded a prize in 1958. Took part in the New Decade exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, New York ( 1955), and Documenta I and II ( Kassel, 1955 and 1959). Invited by the University of California in 1958 as artist in residence; during his stay there he executed a large decoration on canvas for the restaurant of the Unesco building in Paris. The preliminary sketches for this decoration were exhibited in several American cities in 1959. Afro has always taken a keen interest in the ballet; in 1957 he did sets for Guglielmo Petrassi Ritratto di Don Chisciotte (choreography by Millos) at the Teatro dell'Opera, Rome.

Bibliography:

L. De Libero, Pitture di Afro, exhibition catalogue, Galleria della Cometa, Rome, April 1936. -- L. De Libero , Afro, Rome 1946. -- L. Venturi, Afro, in Commentari, No. 3, 1954, -- G. Marchiori, Afro oggi, in Letteratura, No. 13-14, 1955. -- L. Venturi, exhibition catalogue, Viviano Gallery, New York, April-May 1955. -L. Venturi, Afro, in Arts and Architecture, May 1955. -D. Ashton, Synthesists, in Arts and Architecture, September 1955. -- A. C. Ritchie, Catalogue of the 28th Biennale, Venice 1956. -- U. Apollonio, Appunto per Afro, in I Quattro Soli, May-August 1956. -M. Calvesi, Afro, in Comunità, October 1956, -C. Efrati, Afro, in Arti Visive, No. 5, 1956. -- U. Apollonio , Afro, in Quadrum, No. 2, 1956. -- N. Ponente, Afro, in Taccuino delle Arti, No. 15, Rome 1957. -E. Fezzi, Afro, in Prisme des Arts, March 1957. -G. Drudi, L'œuvre murale d'Afro à l'Unesco, in Aujourd'hui, No. 21, March-April 1959.

Next Page