Eugenio Santoro (27 August 1920 – 13 May 2006), was an Italian-born Swiss

outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrate ...

ist.

Biography

Born at Castelmezzano, in the province of Potenza ( Basilicata), he started as a carpenter but he had to quit his job going to the front during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He fought in

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

but got arrested and deported to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where he was sentenced to hard labor in the

Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

for two years. Santoro was released in 1944 and returned to his native town working as a municipal employee and then as an owner of a small woodworking shop. In 1964, due to financial difficulties, he moved to Switzerland with his wife, finding employment as a laborer at the chocolate factory " Camille Bloch" in Courtelary. His passion for art began in 1979, representing a painting of the factory; then he came to sculpture. His works are mostly wooden sculptures depicting human and animal figures. Among his works are worth mentioning ''Mary Magdalene'' (1984) and ''The Egyptienne'' (1989). The first exhibition of his sculptures was held in 1986 at the "Espace Noir" of

Saint-Imier Saint-Imier () is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (''Jura Bernois''). The Observatoire Astronomique de Mont-Soleil is located abo ...

, chaired by

Maurice Born Maurice Born (31 December 1943 – 9 July 2020) was a Swiss architect, ethnographer, sociologist and writer, known for his work on the study of the leper colony of Spinalonga in Greece. Background Spinalonga is a small barren island located ...

Three years later, Born presented him to Michel Thévoz, curator of the

Collection de l'art brut The Collection de l'art brut (literally "Collection of Raw Art"; sometimes referred to as "Musée de l'art brut") is a museum dedicated to outsider art located in Lausanne, Switzerland. See also * American Visionary Art Museum The American ...

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

, who organized a permanent exhibition of his works. In 2004, a second exhibition was organized in the same place. Santoro died at Courtelary in 2006.

Bibliography

*Lucienne Peiry, ''Art brut: the origins of outsider art'', Flammarion, 2001 *Michel Thévoz, ''Collection de l'art brut, Lausanne'', Institut suisse pour l'étude de l'art, 2001

External links

Biography of Eugenio Santoro
1920 births 2006 deaths People from Castelmezzano Italian expatriates in Switzerland 20th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 21st-century Italian painters Outsider artists 20th-century sculptors 20th-century Italian male artists 21st-century Italian male artists {{Italy-sculptor-stub