Piero Dorazio (

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, June 29, 1927 -

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part ...

, May 17, 2005) was an Italian painter. His work was related to color field painting,

lyrical abstraction Lyrical abstraction is either of two related but distinct trends in Post-war Modernist painting: ''European Abstraction Lyrique'' born in Paris, the French art critic Jean José Marchand being credited with coining its name in 1947, considered ...

and other forms of

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 1 ...

Early life

Dorazio was born in

. His father was a civil servant, while his mother was interested in history and art. Dorazio attended Julius Caesar Lyceum (high school) in Rome. The family fled to their homeland province of

Abruzzo , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1 ...

in 1943. After the war, Dorazio worked briefly as a translator for the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

and then studied architecture at the University of Rome. He was influenced by

futurists Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...

such as Gino Severini, Antonio Corpora, Enrico Prampolini, and

Giacomo Balla Giacomo Balla (18 July 1871 – 1 March 1958) was an Italian painter, art teacher and poet best known as a key proponent of Futurism. In his paintings he depicted light, movement and speed. He was concerned with expressing movement in his works, ...

, attracting him to painting. An aversion to their right-wing views pushed him to align instead with left-leaning artists like

Renato Guttuso Renato Guttuso (26 December 1911 – 18 January 1987) was an Italian painter and politician. His best-known works include ''Flight from Etna'' (1938–39), ''Crucifixion'' (1941) and ''La Vucciria'' (1974). Guttuso also designed for the theatre ( ...

. Along with Pietro Consagra, Achille Perilli, and

Giulio Turcato Giulio Turcato (16 March 1912, Mantua – 22 January 1995, Rome) was an Italian artist, belonging to both figurative and abstract expressionist currents. Biography Giulio Turcato was born in Mantua. He attended the Accademia di Belle Arti di Vene ...

, he helped formulate a manifesto and establish a group of abstract artists in 1947 called ''Forma I''. Although imbued with socialist leanings, the group did not follow the realist social commentary furthered by Guttuso but proposed to reclaim abstraction from Futurism. In 1947 Dorazio won a prize and a stipend from the French government to study at the École des Beaux-Arts of Paris. Dorazio, along with artists Mino Perilli and Guerrini, helped found ''L'Age d'Or'' in 1950. It was a bookstore/gallery space dedicated to abstract art. In 1952, he promoted the foundation Origin with

Alberto Burri Alberto Burri (12 March 191513 February 1995; ) was an Italian visual artist, painter, sculptor, and physician based in Città di Castello. He is associated with the matterism of the European informal art movement and described his style as ...

, Ettore Colla and others, and edited the magazine ''Arti Visive''. As a representative of Italy, in 1953 he travelled for the first time to the United States to participate in the International Summer Seminar at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

. That fall, he moved to New York City and stayed through 1954. In October 1953, Dorazio had his first solo exhibition at George Wittenborn's One-Wall Gallery. He published ''La Fantasia Dell-Arte Nella Vita Moderna''" in 1955, a review of

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

in Italy. Regarding this book, reviewer Christopher Masters states that Dorazio advanced his belief, perhaps with a surfeit of optimism, that "abstract art could change the world... That just as science and technology were destroying the barriers between different cultures, so the new 'universal style' would lead to a 'universal civilisation'." He was invited to teach at the Graduate School of Fine Arts program at the

University of Pennsylvania School of Design The University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design is the design school of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. It offers degrees in architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, historic preservation ...

in 1959. He taught painting there for one semester each year from 1960 to 1969, splitting his time between the United States and Italy. In 1970 he returned to live and work full-time in Rome. In 1974 he moved his studio from Rome to

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, near

Todi Todi () is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) of the province of Perugia (region of Umbria) in central Italy. It is perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, commanding distant views in every direction. I ...

Peter Iden Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

, founding director of the

Museum für Moderne Kunst The Museum für Moderne Kunst (''Museum of Modern Art''), or short MMK, in Frankfurt, was founded in 1981 and opened to the public 6 June 1991. The museum was designed by the Viennese architect Hans Hollein. Because of its triangular shape, it ...

Frankfurt from 1978-1987, acquired three works by Dorazio from 1981 to 1983 (''Oracolo'', 1959; ''Blue Hearttrap'', 1961; ''Stridente'', 1982–83) for the museum collection. These were part of the museum exhibitions in Frankfurt in 1985 and Milan in 1987. In the 1990s, the works were temporarily loaned to the European Central Bank. Dorazio continued to work and exhibit until 2004. Described as an "outspoken, independent character" who was the "opposite of politically correct", Dorazio's use of materials and colours stayed constant over time. He is mostly known for paintings with thick bands of bright colour and crosshatched grids. While abstract, his paintings do not neglect detail or complexity. His style is in line with what

Clement Greenberg Clement Greenberg () (January 16, 1909 – May 7, 1994), occasionally writing under the pseudonym K. Hardesh, was an American essayist known mainly as an art critic closely associated with American modern art of the mid-20th century and a formali ...

later described as "

Post-painterly abstraction Post-painterly abstraction is a term created by art critic Clement Greenberg as the title for an exhibit he curated for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1964, which subsequently travelled to the Walker Art Center and the Art Gallery of Toront ...

Exhibitions including his work

Among the exhibitions that have included or featured Dorazio's work are: *1952 Venice Biennale *1953 Wittenborn One-Wall Gallery, New York *1960 Venice Biennale *1965 "The Responsive Eye", Museum of Modern Art, New York *1970 André Emmerich Gallery, New York *1979 Retrospective, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville, Paris *1980 Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo *1985 "Bilder für Frankfurt", Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt *1987 "Dalla Pop Art alla nuova figurazione", Collezione del Museum für Moderne Kunst al Padiglione d‘arte contemporanea Milano *1990 Le Magasin, Grenoble *1991 Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Bologna

Recognition

* Prix Kandinsky (1961)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorazio Piero 1927 births 2005 deaths Painters from Rome 20th-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian male artists Italian contemporary artists Italian male painters 21st-century Italian painters 21st-century Italian male artists