Elisa Montessori (born 1931) is an Italian painter.
Biography
Montessori was born in Genoa on 18 June 1931.
She has been living and working in
Trastevere in Rome since the mid-1950s, where she owns a studio.
She has been interested in drawing since childhood.
She studied classical subjects and graduated with a humanities degree in 1953 from
La Sapienza
The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...
University in Rome.
[ After graduation, she was trained at ]Mirko Basaldella
Mirko Basaldella (28 September 1910 – 24 November 1969) was an Italian sculptor and painter.
Early life and education
Mirko was born in Udine, Italy on September 28, 1910, the second of three brothers ( Dino was the eldest, and Afro the younge ...
's studio where she met with the ''Gruppo Origine'': Ettore Colla, Alberto Burri, and Giuseppe Capogrossi. With Basaldella she started experimenting with techniques such as egg tempera, ceramics, goldworking and engraving.
In 1955 Montessori won a student grant to go to Paris, but decided to stay in Rome after her meeting with scientist Mario Tchou Mario Tchou (1924–1961), was an Italian engineer, of Chinese descent, a pioneer of computer science in Italy. Mario Tchou was an engineer who led a group of scientists from the University of Pisa to invent, in 1959, the Olivetti Elea, world most p ...
, who became her husband the same year. Montessori and Tchou moved to Milan and had two daughters. Their house in Milan on Via Cappuccio was designed by the architect Ettore Sottsass
Ettore Sottsass (Innsbruck, Austria 14 September 1917 – Milan, Italy 31 December 2007) was a 20th century Italian architect, noted for also designing furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting, home and office wares, as well as numerous buildings an ...
''.'' Sotsass and Tchou were friends through their involvement on the Olivetti Elea
The Elea was a series of mainframe computers Olivetti developed starting in the late 1950s. The system, made entirely with transistors for high performance, was conceived, designed and developed by a small group of researchers led by Mario Tchou ...
project. Following the sudden death of Tchou in a car accident while on his way to Olivetti
Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been par ...
's headquarters in Ivrea
Ivrea (; pms, Ivrèja ; ; lat, Eporedia) is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. Situated on the road leading to the Aosta Valley (part of the medieval Via Francigena), it strad ...
in 1961, Montessori relocated to Rome. She would later remarry with Costantino Dardi, an architect, and had a third daughter.
Work
Montessori's work is multifaceted, using many different techniques. Asian culture was a strong source of inspiration, for example in the series of her notebooks and exhibition at Galleria Giulia in 2011.
One important aspect of her production starting from the 1980s was the role of the illustration and the relationship between image and text in both poetry and literature. She produced works inspired by the work of Shakespeare, Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, '' Th ...
, Patrizia Valduga, Emily Dickinson
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry.
Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...
, Marianne Moore
Marianne Craig Moore (November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972) was an American modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. Her poetry is noted for formal innovation, precise diction, irony, and wit.
Early life
Moore was born in Kirkwood ...
, Ingeborg Bachmann
Ingeborg Bachmann (25 June 1926 – 17 October 1973) was an Austrian poet and author.
Biography
Bachmann was born in Klagenfurt, in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the daughter of Olga (née Haas) and Matthias Bachmann, a schoolteacher. Her f ...
and Laura Lilli.
Works in museums
Her works are part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (MACRO), the Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna, Rome
The Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna is the museum of modern and contemporary art of the city of Rome, Italy. It is housed in a former Discalced Carmelites, Barefoot Carmelite monastery dating from the 17th century and adjacent to the church of ...
, and the Farnesina Palace
The Palazzo della Farnesina is an Italian government building located between Monte Mario and the Tiber River in the Foro Italico area in Rome, Italy. Designed in 1935, it has housed the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs since its completion in ...
in Rome. Since 2010, a portrait representing the fragmentation of her body is part of the collection at the Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...
in Florence,
Acknowledgements
*Premio Internazionale "Leonardo Paterna Baldizzi"
*In 2004 filmmaker Francesco Vaccaro made a documentary about her work.
Selected exhibitions
Group exhibitions
* ''Frauen in der Kunst'', Orangerie of Charlottenburg Palace
Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace) is a Baroque palace in Berlin, located in Charlottenburg, a district of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough.
The palace was built at the end of the 17th century and was greatly expanded during th ...
, Berlin (1977)
*''Aperto 82'', XL Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
(1982)
* XVII São Paulo Art Biennial (1983)
* XI Rome Quadriennale
The Rome Quadriennale (Italian: ''Quadriennale di Roma'', also called in English the ''Rome Quadrennial'') is a foundation for the promotion of contemporary Italian art.
Its name derives from the four-yearly exhibitions it is required to host by ...
(1986)
* ''Ofelia '86'', Istituto Italiano di Cultura
The Istituto Italiano di Cultura, the Italian Cultural Institute in English, is a worldwide non-profit organization created by the Italian government. It promotes Italian culture and is involved in the teaching of the Italian language. The creati ...
, Paris (1986)
* II Istanbul Biennial
The Istanbul Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition that has been held biennially in Istanbul, Turkey, since 1987. The Biennial has been organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) since its inception. Format
Istanbul Bien ...
(1989)
* ''Rotoli'', ''Lavori in corso 6'', Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna of Rome (1999)
* Castello di San Giorgio, Maccarese (2001)
* ''Mostra d'Arte Contemporanea'', Palazzo della Farnesina, Rome (2001)
* ''Le muse sono donne'', Teatro Argentina, Rome (2001)
*Galleria di Palazzo Corsini, Rome (2006)
* ''Donne d'arte: dieci donne astratte'', Galleria Cortese & Lisanti, Rome (2007)
* ''Autoritratti di artiste da Catania a Woodman'', Museo Hendrik Christian Andersen, Rome (2007).
* ''In nome e nel ricordo di Carla Mendini'', Galleria Giulia, Rome (2008).
* ''Autoritratte: Artiste di capriccioso e destrissimo ingegno'', Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, curated by Giovanna Giusti (2010).[
* Italian Pavillon at the LIV ]Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
(2011), selected by Claudia Salaris.
* ''Con Goethe in Italia'', (with Michaela Maria Langenstein and Claudia Peill), Casa di Goethe, Rome (2016)
* ''Vita, morte, miracoli: L'arte della longevità'', Museo Villa Croce, Genoa (2018)
Solo exhibitions
* ''Duetto'' (with Vittorio Gregotti
Vittorio Gregotti (10 August 1927 – 15 March 2020) was an Italian architect, born in Novara. He was seen as both a member of the Neo-Avant Garde and a key figure in 1970s Postmodernism.
Biography
Gregotti was born in Novara, in the Italian P ...
) organized for the realization of the folder ''Dietro l’albero di Seghers'' (1981). A.A.M. Architettura Arte Moderna, Rome. Curated by Francesco Moschini.
* Galleria Arco d'Alibert, Rome (1986)[
* ''La bellezza della luna'', Il Triangolo Nero, Alessandria (1987)
* Pastel drawings of ]William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's '' The Tempest'', Biblioteca Casanatense
The Biblioteca Casanatense is a large historic library in Rome, Italy, named in honour of Cardinal Girolamo Casanate (1620–1700) whose private library is at its roots.
History
The library was established in 1701 by Antonin Cloche, the Mast ...
, Rome (1988).[
* ''Pannelli del fiume e della valle'', ]San Polo d'Enza
San Polo d'Enza ( Reggiano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, located about west of Bologna and about southwest of Reggio Emilia.
San Polo d'Enza borders the following municipalities: Bibbiano, Ca ...
(1988)
* ''Le memorie del bianco'', ex carcere del Sant'Uffizio (1992)
* ''Omaggio a Ingeborg Bachmann'' (with G. Beitling), Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome (1993)
* Galleria Mazzocchi, Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...
(1994)[
* ''Claudio Verna and Elisa Montessori'', Museo Laboratorio Arte Contemporanea of La Sapienza, Rome (1999)
* Museo Hendrik Christian Andersen, Rome (2002).][
* Galleria Giulia, Rome (2004)
* ''Frammenti dall' Orto Botanico'', Elle Arte, Palermo (2004).
* ''Shanghai Blues'', ]Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna
The ("national gallery of modern and contemporary art"), also known as La Galleria Nazionale, is an art gallery in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1883 on the initiative of the then Minister Guido Baccelli and is dedicated to modern and contempor ...
, Rome (2006)
* ''Confini di carta'', Galleria Nuvole, Montesarchio (2008)
* Villa Giulia, Rome (2011)[
* Monitor, Rome (2016)][
* Casa delle Letterature, Rome (2017)][
* ]Italian Cultural Institute, London
The Italian Cultural Institute, London ( it, Istituto Italiano di Cultura) is based at 39 Belgrave Square in Belgravia, London. The institute promotes Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over t ...
(2019)
Bibliography
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Montessori, Elisa
1931 births
Living people
20th-century Italian painters
21st-century Italian painters
20th-century Italian women artists
21st-century Italian women artists
Italian contemporary artists
Artists from Genoa