Alberto Burri
Encyclopedia
Alberto Burri was an Italian abstract painter and sculptor. Città di Castello has memorialized him with a large permanent museum of his works.
Burri earned a medical degree in 1940 from the University of Perugia
and was a military physician during World War II
. After his unit was captured in Tunisia
, he was interned in Camp Howze prisoner-of-war camp in Gainesville, Texas
in 1944, where he began to paint. After his release in 1946, Burri moved to Rome
; his first solo show was at the Galleria La Margherita in 1947.
Burri soon turned to abstraction and unorthodox materials, making collage
s with pumice
, tar
, and burlap
, and started a series of canvases that bulged into the 3rd dimension. His work is related to Europe
an Tachisme
, American
Abstract expressionism
, and Lyrical Abstraction
. In the mid-1950s, Burri began producing charred wood and burlap works, then welded iron sheets. In the early 1960s he was burning plastic, and in the early 1970s started his "cracked" paintings, or cretti. He created a series of works in the industrial material, Cellotex, from 1979 through the 1990s.
In the 1980s, Burri created a form of land art
project on the town of Gibellina
in Sicily. The town was abandoned following an earthquake in 1968, with the inhabitants being rehoused in a newly built town 18 km away. Burri covered most of the old town, an area roughly 300 metres by 400 metres, with white concrete
. He called this the Grande Cretto.
Burri was awarded the Italian Order of Merit
in 1994.
Burri earned a medical degree in 1940 from the University of Perugia
University of Perugia
University of Perugia is a public-owned university based in Perugia, Italy. It was founded in 1308, as attested by the Bull issued by Pope Clement V certifying the birth of the Studium Generale....
and was a military physician during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After his unit was captured in Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
, he was interned in Camp Howze prisoner-of-war camp in Gainesville, Texas
Gainesville, Texas
Gainesville is a city in and the county seat of Cooke County, Texas, United States. The population was 15,538 at the 2000 census.-History:...
in 1944, where he began to paint. After his release in 1946, Burri moved to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
; his first solo show was at the Galleria La Margherita in 1947.
Burri soon turned to abstraction and unorthodox materials, making collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
s with pumice
Pumice
Pumice is a textural term for a volcanic rock that is a solidified frothy lava typically created when super-heated, highly pressurized rock is violently ejected from a volcano. It can be formed when lava and water are mixed. This unusual formation is due to the simultaneous actions of rapid...
, tar
Tar
Tar is modified pitch produced primarily from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America. Its main use was in preserving wooden vessels against rot. The largest...
, and burlap
Burlap
Hessian , or burlap in the US, is a woven fabric usually made from skin of the jute plant or sisal fibres, or may be combined with other vegetable fibres to make rope, nets, and similar products...
, and started a series of canvases that bulged into the 3rd dimension. His work is related to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an Tachisme
Tachisme
Tachisme is a French style of abstract painting popular in the 1940s and 1950s. It is often considered to be the European equivalent to abstract expressionism...
, American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Abstract expressionism
Abstract expressionism
Abstract expressionism was an American post–World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris...
, and Lyrical Abstraction
Lyrical Abstraction
Lyrical Abstraction is either of two related but distinctly separate trends in Post-war Modernist painting, and a third definition is the usage as a descriptive term. It is a descriptive term characterizing a type of abstract painting related to Abstract Expressionism; in use since the 1940s...
. In the mid-1950s, Burri began producing charred wood and burlap works, then welded iron sheets. In the early 1960s he was burning plastic, and in the early 1970s started his "cracked" paintings, or cretti. He created a series of works in the industrial material, Cellotex, from 1979 through the 1990s.
In the 1980s, Burri created a form of land art
Land art
Land art, Earthworks , or Earth art is an art movement which emerged in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which landscape and the work of art are inextricably linked...
project on the town of Gibellina
Gibellina
Gibellina is a small city and comune in the mountains of central Sicily, Italy in the Province of Trapani. It was destroyed by the 1968 earthquake....
in Sicily. The town was abandoned following an earthquake in 1968, with the inhabitants being rehoused in a newly built town 18 km away. Burri covered most of the old town, an area roughly 300 metres by 400 metres, with white concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
. He called this the Grande Cretto.
Burri was awarded the Italian Order of Merit
Italian orders of merit
There are five orders of knighthood awarded in recognition of service to the Italian Republic. Below these sit a number of other decorations, associated and otherwise, that do not confer knighthoods...
in 1994.