Porfirio DiDonna (1942–1986) was an American artist.

Life

Porfirio DiDonna was born on 11 April 1942 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Frank and Mary DiDonna. He had an older brother and sister, Salvatore and Joanne, and a younger sister, Catherine. He died in Brooklyn on 26 August 1986 at the age of 44.

Work

DiDonna went to Alexander Hamilton Technical High School in Brooklyn and attended

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

for one semester. In 1961 he enrolled in the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

, also in Brooklyn, and graduated in 1964. From 1966 to 1968 he pursued his graduate degree in fine arts at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Among his early influences were

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

, Mondrain, and

Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...

, as well as

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...

and early Italian Renaissance artists such as

Fra Angelico Fra Angelico (born Guido di Pietro; February 18, 1455) was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Vasari in his '' Lives of the Artists'' as having "a rare and perfect talent".Giorgio Vasari, ''Lives of the Artists''. Pengu ...

. He called his early paintings “religious” and they often were on religious themes, such as crucifixions and the stations of the cross. By 1970 he was starting to work with the minimal marks that would come to characterize his painting and in late 1971 he “chose to limit himself to only dots, dashes, or straight lines loosely aligned in a horizontal and vertical formation. The restrictions resulted in a flexible grid, a form that would wholly absorb him for nearly a decade.” The critic,

Barry Schwabsky Barry Schwabsky (b. Paterson, New Jersey, in 1957) is an American art critic, art historian and poet. He has taught at the School of Visual Arts, Pratt Institute, New York University, Yale University, and Goldsmiths College, among others. Art ...

, in an essay for a 1994 exhibition catalog wrote that reviewers of DiDonna's work in the 1970s naturally mentioned

Agnes Martin Agnes Bernice Martin (March 22, 1912 – December 16, 2004), was an American abstract painter. Her work has been defined as an "essay in discretion on inward-ness and silence". Although she is often considered or referred to as a minimalist, Mart ...

as an influence, as well as

Brice Marden Brice Marden (born October 15, 1938) is an American artist generally described as Minimalist, although his work may be hard to categorize. He lives and works in New York City; Tivoli, New York; Hydra, Greece; and Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania. Lif ...

and the early dot paintings of

Larry Poons Lawrence M. "Larry" Poons (born October 1, 1937) is an American abstract painter. Poons was born in Tokyo, Japan, and studied from 1955 to 1957 at the New England Conservatory of Music, with the intent of becoming a professional musician. After ...

. He made a trip to Italy in 1980 and to Mexico in 1981 where he admired the Mayan and Aztec sites. By this time DiDonna had moved away from linear grids of lines and dots and began to experiment with “asymmetry and welcomed unexpected light.”Baker (2013). p. 81 An hour-glass shape started to become an important structural element in his paintings. DiDonna’s work is in numerous public collections and in 2013 a major retrospective was exhibited at the

Danforth Museum Danforth Art Museum at Framingham State University (formerly Danforth Museum of Art) is a museum and school in Framingham, Massachusetts. It is part of Framingham State University. History The Danforth Museum Corporation was established on Augus ...

in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Public collections

* Jewett Arts Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts *

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary ...

, Illinois *

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, Massachusetts *

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

, Texas *

Minnesota Museum of American Art The Minnesota Museum of American Art ("The M") is an American art museum located in the Historic Pioneer Endicott building in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The museum holds more than 5,000 artworks that showcase the unique voice of American artists from ...

, Saint Paul, Minnesota *

The Phillips Collection The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips (art collector), Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the ...

, Washington, D.C. *

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it one of the oldest art museums on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the US. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum beca ...

, Portland, Oregon *

Rose Art Museum The Rose Art Museum, founded in 1961, is a part of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, US. Named after benefactors Edward and Bertha Rose, it offers temporary exhibitions, and it displays and houses works of art from the permanent col ...

, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts *

Berkeley Art Museum The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from ...

, Berkeley, California

References

* Baker, John (2013). ''Porfirio DiDonna: The Shape of Knowing''. Brooklyn, NY: Pressed Wafer. * Baker, John (1997). ''Porfirio DiDonna: Evolution of the Minimal mark 1970 – 1980''. Boston: Nielsen Gallery. LCCN 97-66095. Exhibition catalog. * Schwabsky, Barry (1994). ''Porfirio DiDonna: Vision Fulfilled''. Boston: Nielsen Gallery. LCCN 94-67814. Exhibition catalog.

External links

Nielsen Gallery page on Porfirio DiDonna.
Retrieved 19 November 2013. {{DEFAULTSORT:DiDonna, Porfirio 1942 births 1986 deaths American artists Artists from New York (state) People from Brooklyn Pratt Institute alumni Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Brooklyn College alumni

Life

Work

Public collections

References

Further reading

External links