ALFREDO VOLPI (1896/1988), BRAZILIAN MODERNIST PAINTER – Being an Impressionist painter without knowledge about it

THINKING ONLY ABOUT THE LINE, SHAPE AND COLOR PROBLEM

ALFREDO VOLPI 1/3 – He started painting when he was 12 years old, realizing naturalistic landscapes. He was born in Lucca (central Italy) in 1896, but grew up in Brazil and became one of the fathers of the local modernist movement. His artistic maturity had been influenced by the great landscape painters, but in the late 1930’s his painting style had an extremely personal style. He entered the art world as self-taught, working as a painter and wall decorator. Introspective and a few words, he didn’t finish elementary school, but he perceived the irresistible desire to make ink stains, obviously without knowledge what Impressionism meant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs39OQKPLLg

ALFREDO VOLPI 2/3 – He abandoned the oil colors to try tempera. He approached abstract art with a peculiar geometric style. Most of the paintings show suburban natural scenery, produced on weekends, when Volpi painted on the outskirts of St. Paul with artists, who later formed the Helen Group. In the early 1940s he organized important personal exhibitions. His first exhibition occured in Galleria Itá in São Paulo in 1944. In the 1950s (after a concretistic period), he began decorating the facades of the houses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgiQnRNy8xQ

ALFREDO VOLPI 3/3 – Influenced by Brazilian folklore, in the 1960s he painted bandeirinhas (small flags used in local festivals). With these flag patterns he showed growing sense of combination of color and balanced composition. His name became popular together with Cavalcanti and Portinari painters. He crossed several styles, but has become famous thanks to his colorful geometric and abstract style. He died in Sao Paulo on May 1988. In the Palazzo Itamaraty (Brasilia) is displayed his famous fresco “The Dream of Don Bosco”, masterpiece from 1966. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neokMafvgPc

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