Aligi Sassu
Encyclopedia
Aligi Sassu was an Italian painter
and sculptor
.
, into a Sardinian
-origin family. His father Antonio was one of the founders of the Italian Socialist Party
(Partito Socialista Italiano) at Sassari
in 1894, and had moved to Milan in 1896, where he had married Lina Pedretti in 1911. At the beginning of 1920, the Sassu family moved back to Sardinia
to Thiesi
, where Antonio opened a shop. After three years, the family returned to Milan
, where Aligi got interested into arts. Together with friend and Futurist
designer Bruno Munari
, he decided to present himself to the Futurism leader Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
.
In 1928, he established, along with Bruno Munari
, the Manifesto della Pittura (Painting Manifesto), taking as basic assumption the display of anti-naturalistic forms. He deeply studied Diego Velázquez
and the plastic nude. Of this period is L'Ultima cena, a painting that sums up Sassu's visual poetic.
In 1930, in Milan, he met Giacomo Manzù
, Giandante X
(also known as Dante Persico) and Giuseppe Gorgerino. In 1934, Sassu started studying Delacroix
and the history paintings of the Louvre
in Paris. In this period he also painted what will be his "logo" in the future, the horse, omnipresent in his future production.
In 1935, he established the Gruppo Rosso with, among others, Nino Franchina and Vittorio Della Porta. In 1936, he finished one of his most known paintings Il Caffè, as well as the Fucilazione nelle Asturie, painted in favour of the Spanish resistance. He joined the anti-fascist cultural movement of Corrente di Vita
in 1938.
After the Spanish Civil War
, he started studying Vincent van Gogh
and moved back to Sardinia
for some time. During this period, several paintings were dedicated to the Sardinian rural life. He also studied mural painting.
In 1963, he moved to the Balearic Islands
, to Cala San Vicente then to Majorca, to the village of Pollença
, Palma
, Spain. In 1967, the cycle Tauromachie was presented by the Spanish poet Rafael Alberti
. Red became Sassu's favourite colour. In 1976, he worked for the frescoes of Sant'Andrea in Pescara
.
In 1964, the Spanish period begins, Sassu bought a house in Majorca, in Cala San Vicente. Sassu focused on Bull Fightings and on landscapes of the island, besides the mythological themes, which he deepened through the use of the acrylic
technique.
From this year on he lives between Majorca and Italy, and in 1967 he moved to Monticello Brianza
.
In 1973, he created scenes and costumes of the Sicilian Vespers
for the reopening of èTeatro Regio in Turin, and was dedicated a room in the Gallery of Modern Art in Vatican City
. In 1976 he completed two mosaics for Saint Andrea in Pescara. In 1977 he moved to Can Marimon in Pollença.
In 1982, he received the acknowledgment "The Man who Made Milan Great" and presented fifty eight watercolours he had made in 1943 as an illustration to Alessandro Manzoni
's The Betrothed.
In 1986, he completed 113 works inspired by the Divine Comedy, three of which were purchased by the Pushkin Museum
in Moscow.
In 1993, he completed "Miti del Mediterraneo", a ceramic mural of 150 square meters for the new building of the European Parliament in Brussels. The following year he presented Manuscriptum, a folder with engravings shown in Sweden at the itinerant exhibition "The bridges by Leonardo".
In 1995, he exhibited at the Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Bergamo
and he is nominated Cavaliere della Gran Croce by the Italian president. In 1996 three hundred sixty two works, created between 1927 and 1996, were donated to the city of Lugano
, founding the Aligi Sassu and Helenita Olivares Foundation is created.
On 17 July 1999, the day of the artist's eighty-seventh birthday, a big anthological display was opened in Palazzo Strozzi
at Florence.
He died on his birthday, in 2000, at Pollença
.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
.
Biography
Aligi Sassu was born in Milan, LombardyLombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
, into a Sardinian
Sardinian people
The Sardinian people or Sardinians are the people from or with origins in the island of Sardinia , in the Mediterranean sea, which forms part of southern Europe.-Origin and influences:...
-origin family. His father Antonio was one of the founders of the Italian Socialist Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
(Partito Socialista Italiano) at Sassari
Sassari
Sassari is an Italian city. It is the second-largest city of Sardinia in terms of population with about 130,000 inhabitants, or about 300,000 including the greater metropolitan area...
in 1894, and had moved to Milan in 1896, where he had married Lina Pedretti in 1911. At the beginning of 1920, the Sassu family moved back to Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
to Thiesi
Thiesi
Thiesi is a town and comune located in the northern province of Sassari, in Sardinia, Italy. It has a population of 3,165....
, where Antonio opened a shop. After three years, the family returned to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, where Aligi got interested into arts. Together with friend and Futurist
Futurism (art)
Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city...
designer Bruno Munari
Bruno Munari
Bruno Munari was an Italian artist and designer, who contributed fundamentals to many fields of visual arts and non visual arts with his research on games, didactic method and creativity.-Biography:Bruno Munari was born in Milan but spent his...
, he decided to present himself to the Futurism leader Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti was an Italian poet and editor, the founder of the Futurist movement, and a fascist ideologue.-Childhood and adolescence:...
.
In 1928, he established, along with Bruno Munari
Bruno Munari
Bruno Munari was an Italian artist and designer, who contributed fundamentals to many fields of visual arts and non visual arts with his research on games, didactic method and creativity.-Biography:Bruno Munari was born in Milan but spent his...
, the Manifesto della Pittura (Painting Manifesto), taking as basic assumption the display of anti-naturalistic forms. He deeply studied Diego Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
and the plastic nude. Of this period is L'Ultima cena, a painting that sums up Sassu's visual poetic.
In 1930, in Milan, he met Giacomo Manzù
Giacomo Manzù
Giacomo Manzù, pseudonym of Giacomo Manzoni , was an Italian sculptor, communist, and Roman Catholic.-Biography:...
, Giandante X
Giandante X
Giandante X is the nickname of Dante Persico or Dante Pescò , an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect....
(also known as Dante Persico) and Giuseppe Gorgerino. In 1934, Sassu started studying Delacroix
Eugène Delacroix
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school...
and the history paintings of the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
in Paris. In this period he also painted what will be his "logo" in the future, the horse, omnipresent in his future production.
In 1935, he established the Gruppo Rosso with, among others, Nino Franchina and Vittorio Della Porta. In 1936, he finished one of his most known paintings Il Caffè, as well as the Fucilazione nelle Asturie, painted in favour of the Spanish resistance. He joined the anti-fascist cultural movement of Corrente di Vita
Corrente di Vita
Corrente di Vita Giovanile , later renamed Corrente di Vita or Corrente, was an Italian magazine founded on 1 January 1938 in Milan by artist Ernesto Treccani....
in 1938.
After the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, he started studying Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
and moved back to Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
for some time. During this period, several paintings were dedicated to the Sardinian rural life. He also studied mural painting.
In 1963, he moved to the Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
, to Cala San Vicente then to Majorca, to the village of Pollença
Pollença
Pollença is a town and municipality situated in the far north corner of the island of Majorca, near Cap de Formentor and Alcúdia. It lies about 6 km west of its port, Port de Pollença.-History:...
, Palma
Palma de Mallorca
Palma is the major city and port on the island of Majorca and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. The names Ciutat de Mallorca and Ciutat were used before the War of the Spanish Succession and are still used by people in Majorca. However, the official name...
, Spain. In 1967, the cycle Tauromachie was presented by the Spanish poet Rafael Alberti
Rafael Alberti
Rafael Alberti Merello was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27....
. Red became Sassu's favourite colour. In 1976, he worked for the frescoes of Sant'Andrea in Pescara
Pescara
Pescara is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. As of January 1, 2007 it was the most populated city within Abruzzo at 123,059 residents, 400,000 with the surrounding metropolitan area...
.
In 1964, the Spanish period begins, Sassu bought a house in Majorca, in Cala San Vicente. Sassu focused on Bull Fightings and on landscapes of the island, besides the mythological themes, which he deepened through the use of the acrylic
Acrylic paint
Acrylic paint is fast drying paint containing pigment suspension in acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but become water-resistant when dry...
technique.
From this year on he lives between Majorca and Italy, and in 1967 he moved to Monticello Brianza
Monticello Brianza
Monticello Brianza is a comune in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located in Brianza about 30 km northeast of Milan and about 15 km southwest of Lecco.-External links:*...
.
In 1973, he created scenes and costumes of the Sicilian Vespers
Sicilian Vespers
The Sicilian Vespers is the name given to the successful rebellion on the island of Sicily that broke out on the Easter of 1282 against the rule of the French/Angevin king Charles I, who had ruled the Kingdom of Sicily since 1266. Within six weeks three thousand French men and women were slain by...
for the reopening of èTeatro Regio in Turin, and was dedicated a room in the Gallery of Modern Art in Vatican City
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
. In 1976 he completed two mosaics for Saint Andrea in Pescara. In 1977 he moved to Can Marimon in Pollença.
In 1982, he received the acknowledgment "The Man who Made Milan Great" and presented fifty eight watercolours he had made in 1943 as an illustration to Alessandro Manzoni
Alessandro Manzoni
Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni was an Italian poet and novelist.He is famous for the novel The Betrothed , generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature...
's The Betrothed.
In 1986, he completed 113 works inspired by the Divine Comedy, three of which were purchased by the Pushkin Museum
Pushkin Museum
The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts is the largest museum of European art in Moscow, located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour....
in Moscow.
In 1993, he completed "Miti del Mediterraneo", a ceramic mural of 150 square meters for the new building of the European Parliament in Brussels. The following year he presented Manuscriptum, a folder with engravings shown in Sweden at the itinerant exhibition "The bridges by Leonardo".
In 1995, he exhibited at the Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Bergamo
Bergamo
Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...
and he is nominated Cavaliere della Gran Croce by the Italian president. In 1996 three hundred sixty two works, created between 1927 and 1996, were donated to the city of Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
, founding the Aligi Sassu and Helenita Olivares Foundation is created.
On 17 July 1999, the day of the artist's eighty-seventh birthday, a big anthological display was opened in Palazzo Strozzi
Palazzo Strozzi
Palazzo Strozzi is a palace in Florence, Italy.-History:The construction of the palace begun in 1489 by Benedetto da Maiano, for Filippo Strozzi the Elder, a rival of the Medici who had returned to the city in November 1466 and desired the most magnificent palace to assert his family's continued...
at Florence.
He died on his birthday, in 2000, at Pollença
Pollença
Pollença is a town and municipality situated in the far north corner of the island of Majorca, near Cap de Formentor and Alcúdia. It lies about 6 km west of its port, Port de Pollença.-History:...
.