Enrico Baj (31 October 1924 – 16 June 2003) was an Italian

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

and writer on art. Many of his works show an obsession with

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear w ...

. He created prints, and sculptures but especially

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

. He was close to the

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

and

dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...

movements, and was later associated with CoBrA. As an author, he has been described as a leading promoter of the

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

. He worked with

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel ''The Name of the ...

among other collaborators. He had a long interest in the pseudo-philosophy

'pataphysics Pataphysics (french: 'pataphysique) is a "philosophy" of science invented by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) intended to be a parody of science. Difficult to be simply defined or pinned down, it has been described as the "science of ima ...

Biography

He was born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

into a wealthy family, but left Italy in 1944 having upset the authorities and to avoid

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

. He studied at the

Milan University The University of Milan ( it, Università degli Studi di Milano; la, Universitas Studiorum Mediolanensis), known colloquially as UniMi or Statale, is a public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe ...

law faculty and the

Brera Academy of Art The Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera ("academy of fine arts of Brera"), also known as the or Brera Academy, is a state-run tertiary public academy of fine arts in Milan, Italy. It shares its history, and its main building, with the Pinacoteca di ...

. In 1951 he founded the arte nucleare movement with Sergio Dangelo, which unlike

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...

was overtly

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

. Baj himself was aligned with the

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

movement. His most well-known pieces are probably the series of "Generals": absurd characters made from found objects such as belts or medals. He made numerous works using motifs from other artists, from

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

. Sometimes he recreated entire works of other painters. In 1972 public display of a major work, ''Funeral Of The Anarchist Pinelli'' (a reference to

Carlo Carrà Carlo Carrà (; February 11, 1881 – April 13, 1966) was an Italian painter and a leading figure of the Futurist movement that flourished in Italy during the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to his many paintings, he wrote a number ...

's painting ''

The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli ''The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli'' (''Il Funerale dell’anarchico Galli'') is a painting by Italian painter Carlo Carrà. It was finished in 1911, during the artist's futurist phase, and is considered Carrà's most famous piece. The piece d ...

'' of 1911), was banned after the murder of the police officer believed to be responsible for

Giuseppe Pinelli Giuseppe "Pino" Pinelli (21 October 1928 – 15 December 1969) was an Italian railroad worker and anarchist, who died while being detained by Italian police in 1969. Pinelli was a member of the Milan-based anarchist association named Ponte ...

's death in custody. However, his work continued to be political. In 1989 he designed thirty marionettes for '' Le Bleu-blanc-rouge et le noir'', an opera by Italian composer

Lorenzo Ferrero Lorenzo Ferrero (; born 1951) is an Italian composer, librettist, author, and book editor. He started composing at an early age and has written over a hundred compositions thus far, including twelve operas, three ballets, and numerous orchestral ...

to a libretto by

Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993), who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, d ...

, written for the bicentenary of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. In his last years, he created a series of paintings in protest at the election of

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

. He died in 2003 in

Vergiate Vergiate is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 45 km northwest of Milan and about 15 km southwest of Varese. As of 31 December 2018 it had a population of 8,716 Vergiate bo ...

, Italy.

References

External links

Obituary

Biography of Enrico Baj
- looking in detail at his anarchist politics

Daily Bleed Calendar

NO!art groupe * :it:Pittura Nucleare The Italian page for the arte nucleare * Discussion of ''Fire! Fire!'' by

Janina Ramirez Janina Sara Maria Ramirez (; ' Maleczek; born 7 July 1980), sometimes credited as Nina Ramirez, is a British art historian, cultural historian, and TV presenter. She specialises in interpreting symbols and examining works of art within their his ...

and Ricky Martin of

Art Ninja ''Art Ninja'' is a British children's television art-sitcom hybrid hosted by Ricky Martin. The show is produced by Dot to Dot Productions for CBBC and began on 17 January 2015. The series follows presenter Ricky and his life where he makes arts ...

Art Detective Podcast, 15 Mar 2017
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baj, Enrico 1924 births 2003 deaths Artists from Milan 20th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 21st-century Italian painters Italian anarchists Italian contemporary artists Brera Academy alumni Italian surrealist artists Puppet designers Puppetry in Italy