Mario Mafai (12 February 1902 – 31 March 1965) was an Italian

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

. With his wife Antonietta Raphaël he founded the modern art movement called the

Scuola Romana Scuola romana or Scuola di via Cavour was a 20th-century art movement defined by a group of painters within Expressionism and active in Rome between 1928 and 1945, and with a second phase in the mid-1950s. Birth of the movement In November 192 ...

, or Roman school.

Biography

Mafai left school very early, preferring to attend, with

Scipione ''Scipione'' ( HWV 20), also called ''Publio Cornelio Scipione'', is an opera seria in three acts, with music composed by George Frideric Handel for the Royal Academy of Music in 1726. The librettist was Paolo Antonio Rolli. Handel composed ''Sc ...

, the Scuola Libera del Nudo, or free school of the nude, of the

Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma The Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma is a public tertiary academy of art in Rome, Italy. It was founded in the sixteenth century, but the present institution dates from the time of the unification of Italy and the capture of Rome by the Kingdom ...

. His influences in those years were Roman galleries and museums, and the Fine Arts Library at

Palazzo Venezia The Palazzo Venezia or Palazzo Barbo (), formerly Palace of St. Mark, is a palazzo (palace) in central Rome, Italy, just north of the Capitoline Hill. The original structure of this great architectural complex consisted of a modest medieval hous ...

. He met painter and sculptor Antonietta Raphaël in 1925, and they married. They had three daughters:

Miriam Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus. The Tor ...

(1926), a journalist, partner of Communist politician

Giancarlo Pajetta Giancarlo Pajetta (24 June 1911 – 13 September 1990) was an Italian communist politician. Biography Pajetta was born in a working-class district of Turin to Carlo, a bank employee, and Elvira Berrini, an elementary schoolteacher. He attended ...

; Simona (1928) member of the

Italian Senate The Senate of the Republic ( it, Senato della Repubblica), or simply the Senate ( it, Senato), is the upper house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Chamber of Deputies). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral sy ...

and author; and Giulia (1930), a scenographer and costume designer.Flavia Matitti (2006).
Mafai, Mario
. ''

Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani The ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' ( en, Biographical Dictionary of the Italians) is a biographical dictionary published by the Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, started in 1925 and completed in 2020. It includes about 40,000 biograp ...

'', Vol. 67.

Treccani The ''Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti'' (Italian for "Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Letters, and Arts"), best known as ''Treccani'' for its developer Giovanni Treccani or ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', is an Italian-language en ...

. In 1927 Mafai exhibited for the first time, with a show of studies and

maquette A ''maquette'' (French word for scale model, sometimes referred to by the Italian names ''plastico'' or ''modello'') is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', from the Italian word for "sketc ...

s organised by the Associazione Artistica Nazionale in

Via Margutta Via Margutta is a narrow street in the centre of Rome, near Piazza del Popolo, accessible from Via del Babuino in the ancient Campo Marzio neighborhood also known as ''"the foreigner's quarter"''. Mount Pincio is nearby. Via Margutta original ...

. In 1928 he had a second exhibition, at the XCIV Mostra degli Amatori e Cultori di Belle Arti, as well as a collective with

and other painters, at the Young Painters Convention of Palazzo Doria in 1929. In November 1927, Mafai and Raphaël moved to 325 via Cavour in Rome, and made a

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

there. Within a short time, it became a meeting point for writers such as

Enrico Falqui Enrico Falqui (12 October 1901 – 16 March 1974) was an Italian writer and literary critic. Biography Enrico Falqui was born in Frattamaggiore, a small market town on the northern fringes of Naples. Gaetano and Angelina Carlomagno Falqui, his p ...

Giuseppe Ungaretti Giuseppe Ungaretti (; 8 February 1888 – 2 June 1970) was an Italian modernist poet, journalist, essayist, critic, academic, and recipient of the inaugural 1970 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. A leading representative of the experim ...

, Libero de Libero and

Leonardo Sinisgalli Leonardo Sinisgalli (1908–1981) was an Italian poet and art critic active from the 1930s to the 1970s. Sinisgalli was born in Montemurro, Basilicata. His early education and careers led to him being called the "engineer poet". In 1925, Sinis ...

, as well as the young artists Scipione and Renato Marino Mazzacurati.

References

Bibliography

*F. N. Arnoldi, ''Storia dell'Arte'', vol. III,

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 ...

1989 *''I Mafai - Vite parallele'', catalogue edited by M. Fagiolo, with biography by di F. R. Morelli *

Enzo Siciliano Enzo Siciliano (27 May 1934 – 9 June 2006) was an Italian writer, playwright, literary critic and intellectual. Siciliano was born in Rome. He was collaborator of Alberto Moravia, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Elsa Morante and many other famous w ...

, ''Il risveglio della bionda sirena. Raphaël e Mafai. Storia di un amore coniugale'',

Mondadori Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 1 ...

2005 *Fabrizio D'Amico, Marco Goldin, ''Casa Mafai : da via Cavour a Parigi : 1925-193'', Linea d'ombra, 2004 *''Mario Mafai, 1902-1965: una calma febbre di colori'', Skira, 2004 *''Io non sono un altro - l'arte di Mario Mafai (I Am Not the Other - The Art of Mario Mafai)'', DVD, Studio Angeletti &

Archive, 2005, directed by Giorgio Cappozzo

External links

Mafai's works online
on ''Artcyclopedia.com''. ^{Accessed 26 May 2011}
Mario Mafai
on ''Artfact.com''. ^{Accessed 26 May 2011}
Archive of the ''Scuola Romana''
at Villa Torlonia
Archivio Contemporaneo "Alessandro Bonsanti" - The Mario Mafai-Antonietta Raphaël Fund

History of the ''Biennale di Venezia''

Two Exhibitions on Mafai in Rome and Brescia in 2005

* ttp://www.settemuse.it/pittori_scultori_italiani/mario_mafai.htm Mafai Gallery selected work on ''Settemuse.it'', with biography. ^{Accessed 26 May 2011} {{DEFAULTSORT:Mafai, Mario 1902 births 1965 deaths 20th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Italian anti-fascists 20th-century Italian sculptors 20th-century Italian male artists Italian male sculptors

Biography

See also

References

Bibliography

External links