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Afro Basaldella

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  3. Afro Basaldella

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Afro Basaldella is born in 1912 in Udine (Italy). The artist, known only by his first name (Afro), is regarded as one of the major Italian painters of abstract art. Brother of the sculptors Mirko and Dino Basaldella, he is trained in Venice and is influenced by the "Scuola Romana" (Romain School). His first exhibition consists of works inspired by classic Venetian (del Milione Gallery, Milan, 1932). Since that time, he creates great murals decorations in...

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    Biography of Afro Basaldella

    Afro Basaldella is born in 1912 in Udine (Italy). The artist, known only by his first name (Afro), is regarded as one of the major Italian painters of abstract art. Brother of the sculptors Mirko and Dino Basaldella, he is trained in Venice and is influenced by the "Scuola Romana" (Romain School). His first exhibition consists of works inspired by classic Venetian (del Milione Gallery, Milan, 1932). Since that time, he creates great murals decorations in Venice, Udine and Rome (1936-1939). From 1937, Afro explores the cubism of Picasso and Braque. In 1940, his art becomes expressionist and post-cubist. In 1945, Afro turns resolutely toward the analytical and synthetic abstraction of cubism, path confirmed after a first trip to the United States (1950). His style is then rather close to the one of the School of Paris and the abstract landscapes. In 1952 he exhibited at the Venice Biennial Event with the "Gruppo degli Otto" (the group of the eight, with Birolli, Corpora, Morlotti, Santomaso, Turcato, Vedova). Afro receives significant public commissions. In 1956 he won the prize of the Venice Biennial. He exhibits frequently in the United States and in Europe. After 1960, his painting becomes more gestural, then more traditional and orderly in the 70s. His art is found in most major museums around the world. Afro passes away in Zurich in 1976.

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5 work(s) available
Campiello V
Etching
La Rusalka
Drawing
Without title II
Drawing
Piccola terra
Etching
Nero I
Aquatint

Catalogue(s) raisonné(s)

Catalogue(s) raisonné(s)
* « Incisioni e litografie »,  E. Crispolti et autres, Ed. Top Graphic, Milano, 1986
* « Afro - Opere su carta, Grafiche, Arazzi, Mosaici », Maurizio Calvezi, Museo Nazionale San Vitale e Casa Farini, Ravenna, 1991
* « Opere su tela »,  M. Graziani et autres, Ed. Dataars, Rome, 1997
* « Opere su carta »,  M. Graziani et autres, Ed. Dataars/La Scaletta, 2006
All the catalogues raisonnés

Bibliographic track & more

To read from or about the artist :
* « Pittura italiana contemporanea », Giuseppe Mazzariol, Istituto italiano d'arti grafiche, Bergame, 1958
* « Afro : Dipinti - Gouaches - Disegni », collectif, Edizioni d'Arte Moderna, 1961
* « Afro 1951-1961 », J.J. Sweeney, Ed. d’Arte Moderna, Rome, 1961
* « Afro », Cesare Brandi, Col. Maestri del XX secolo, Ed. Editalia, Rome, 1977
* « Afro », Bruno Mantura, Aldo Rizzi, cat. d'expo., Rome, Ed. De Luca, 1978
* « Immagini di Afro », G. Drudi, Ed. della Cometa, Rome, 1986
* « Gli ultimi Afro », M. Calvesi, Umberto Allemandi & C., Turin 1984
* « Dal Gruppo degli Otto all'informale », Renato Barilli, cat. d'expo., Ed. Bergamini, 1989
* « Afro e il disegno », B. Drudi, J.J. Sweeney, cat. d'expo., Edizioni della Cometa, 1992
* « Afro - Bianco nero medio », Barbara Drudi, Ed. Les Chanches de l'Art, 2002
Website :
http://fondazioneafro.altervista.org/it/la-fondazione
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"Coup de coeur" :
+ Discover the "coup de coeur"

"Coup de coeur" by Afro Basaldella

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Sans titre - Décembre 2017

Pastel sur papier signé, contrecollé sur toile, 1948


    En 1933, la célèbre Galleria del Milione de Milan accueille dans ses murs Afro Basaldella, tout jeune artiste de 21 ans. Précédemment, il a déjà participé à plusieurs expositions en compagnie de ses frères ainés, eux aussi peintres remarqués. Ainsi de 1935 à 1942, ses œuvres Néoréalistes seront régulièrement montrées dans différentes Quadriennales et Biennales d'Italie. Salué par les puissants critiques d'art italiens, il remplit tous les critères du jeune artiste prometteur.

    Mais voilà qu'en 1948 une formidable césure apparaît dans son œuvre, à un moment où la scène artistique italienne commence à émerger de l'immédiat après-guerre. Cette même année, son exposition personnelle à la Galleria la Saletta de Modène et sa participation à la première Exposition d'Art Contemporain au Palazzo Re Enzo de Bologne suscitent l'incompréhension des critiques d'art qui l'avaient jusque-là soutenu. C'est aussi l'occasion d'affrontements virulents qui passionnent le public. Les débats s'enflamment entre les conservateurs du Néoréalisme et les défenseurs de l'Abstraction, étiquetés marxistes, lesquels finissent d'ailleurs par dénoncer la bourgeoisie en putréfaction ! C'est toutefois l'inconfort de ces mêmes critiques qui ressort de ce bavardage, tout déstabilisés de ne pouvoir glisser ces nouvelles œuvres ni tout à fait figuratives, ni tout à fait abstraites dans une case en « Isme ».


Discover all our "coups de coeur"
Stamp :
No stamp made.

Art movements

  • + NON FIGURATIVE ART / 1942-1975 / Jean Bertholle, André Beaudin, Jeannie Dumesnil, Hanna Ben-Dov, Elvire Jan, Charles Lapicque, etc.
All art movements

See & discover

Beyond works currently in stock, it seemed to me useful to combine business with pleasure by letting you discover others works by artists in my gallery. These artworks, now sold or removed from our website, have been in our stock in the past.

These pages will undoubtedly make it possible for some of you to associate an image with its title or the other way round, for others it will be a good time to discover more on such and such artist. For the sake of confidentiality – the pieces being no longer available – we won't display neither their numbering or their price. For whatever reason, make sure to visit this amazing art database with to date 6441 online works just for your pleasure! Michelle Champetier



Artists on display

The art and the artists display: proclamations, galleries, museums, personal or collective exhibitions. On walls or in shop windows, wise or rebels, posters warn, argue, show. Some were specially conceived by an artist for such or such event, other, colder, have only the letter.

Some were created in lithographic technic, most are simple offset reproductions. They are many those who like collecting these rectangles of paper, monochrome or in games of colours, in matt paper or brilliant, with many words or almost dumb.

We are happy also to be able to greet, by this pages, mythical galleries as those of Denise René, Louis Carré, Claude Bernard, Berheim Jeune, Maeght, Pierre Loeb and others.

All the posters
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