L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2015 www.italoamericano.com L'Italo-Americano 11 which reflected his affinity for science. At the time the most popular artistic movement in Italy was the Arte Informale. Burri was a very private and solitary artist, and formally distanced himself from this kind of art. Yet, much o f h i s w o r k w a s b a s e d o n Informale aesthetic and ideas, and today he is generally recog- n i z e d a s a n A r t e I n f o r m a l e artist. I n t h e m i d - 1 9 5 0 s , B u r r i introduced new elements in his art: his burlap works were com- bined to charred wood, followed by scrap iron sheets fixed onto the wood, as well as colored and This year Italy celebrates 1 0 0 y e a r s a n n i v e r s a r y o f Alberto Burri's birthday, one of Italy's most important contem- porary painter and sculptor. H e w a s b o r n i n C i t t à d i Castello, in Umbria, on March 12th, 1915 and had a very pecu- liar life, considering what he ended up becoming. Alberto Burri in fact graduated from medical school at the University of Perugia, he specialized in tropical medicine and partici- pated to World War II as a doc- tor. Two days after Italy entered t h e W a r , h e w a s c a l l e d a s a m e d i c t o s e r v e i n L i b y a . I n 1943 after the Axis forces were defeated at El Alamein, his unit w a s c a p t u r e d i n T u n i s i a , h e became a prisoner and interned in Camp Howze, in Gainesville, Texas. And it was exactly in T e x a s t h a t B u r r i s t a r t e d t o paint. H i s f i r s t p a i n t i n g s w e r e views of the desert he could see from the prison camp and still life with paints and canvases s u p p l i e d b y t h e Y M C A . H e would also paint some nostalgic memories of views of Umbrian landscapes. When he finally returned to Italy, he had the habit to paint on old burlap sacks and brought a bunch of them back with him and continued to use them in place of canvas. As all artists, he decided to go against the opinion of his family and friends, and in 1946 he moved to Rome to pursue a full-time career as painter. The only supporter of his decision was his cousin, a musician, who introduced him to the Roman art circle. Burri, started to work inces- santly and would incorporate his paintings unusual materials such as plastic cements, resin, zinc oxide, pumice and kaolin, t a r a n d P V C a d h e s i v e s i n , transparent sheets of plastic. But it was only in the 1970s t h a t h e b e g a n h i s " c r a c k e d " paintings, or "cretti", today his most recognizable signature as an artist. He created a series of works in the industrial insulat- i n g m a t e r i a l , C e l o t e x , f r o m 1979 through the 1990s, and in the 1980s, Burri had the genius idea to combine his "cracked" art with the landscape, crating a sort of land art. His first project was in Sicily, in the town of Gibellina, which had been aban- d o n e d f o l l o w i n g t h e 1 9 6 8 Belice earthquake. Burri decided to cover an a r e a o f o v e r 1 2 0 , 0 0 0 s q u a r e metres (1,300,000 sq ft), which c o n s i s t e d o f m o s t o f t h e o l d t o w n , w i t h w h i t e c o n c r e t e , divided into large pieces and called this the Grande Cretto (The Big Cretto). During his career Burri also returned to the USA, the land were his art was first born, and his work was included in the g r o u p e x h i b i t i o n " Y o u n g e r European Painters: A Selection at the Guggenheim Museum". Another coincidence is that his first U.S. retrospective was pre- sented by the Museum of Fine Arts in Huston, Texas, in 1963. During his career he gradual- ly gained fame all around the world and was rewarded with many awards: in 1960, Burri won Third Prize at the Carnagie I n t e r n a t i o n a l , P i t t s b u r g h . I n 1 9 5 9 h e w a s a w a r d e d t h e Premio dell'Ariete in Milan and the UNESCO Prize at the Sao Paulo Biennal. In 1960 there was a solo show of Burri's art at the Venice Biennale, where he obtained the Critics' Prize. At last, a year before passing a w a y , i n 1 9 9 4 B u r r y w a s awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. A f t e r 1 0 0 y e a r s f r o m h i s birthday, we can tell he was right to follow his dream and become an incredible artist. Italian modern-art great Alberto Burri's 100th birth anniversary GIULIA LOUISE STEIGERWALT In the 70's Burri created his "cretti", today his most recognizable signature as an artist Today Burri is generally recognized as an "Arte informale" artist Burri has created a series of works in the industrial insulating material called Celotex

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