Alberto Burri
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Alberto Burri (12 March 191513 February 1995; ) was an Italian visual artist,
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 ...
,
sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
, and
physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
based in
Città di Castello Città di Castello (); "Castle Town") is a city and '' comune'' in the province of Perugia, in the northern part of Umbria. It is situated on a slope of the Apennines, on the flood plain along the upper part of the river Tiber. The city is north o ...
. He is associated with the matterism of the European informal art movement and described his style as a polymaterialist. He had connections with
Lucio Fontana Lucio Fontana (; 19 February 1899 – 7 September 1968) was an Argentine-Italian painter, sculptor and theorist. He is mostly known as the founder of Spatialism. Early life Born in Rosario, to Italian immigrant parents, he was ...
's
spatialism Spatialism ( it, Spazialismo) is an art movement founded by Argentine-Italian artist Lucio Fontana in Milan in 1947 in which he proposed to synthesize colour, sound, space, movement, and time into a new type of art. The main ideas of the movement ...
and, with
Antoni Tàpies Antoni Tàpies i Puig, 1st Marquess of Tápies (; 13 December 1923 – 6 February 2012) was a Catalan People, Catalan painter, sculptor and art theorist, who became one of the most famous European artists of his generation. Life The son of Jo ...
, an influence on the revival of the art of post-war assembly in America ( Robert Rauschenberg) as in Europe.


Life

In the “Overrated and Underrated” column published by the American art magazine ARTnews, Alberto Burri's name is often mentioned. Carolyn-Christov-Bakargiev mentioning him in the January 2005 issue for example. Alberto Burri was born on 12 March 1915 in
Città di Castello Città di Castello (); "Castle Town") is a city and '' comune'' in the province of Perugia, in the northern part of Umbria. It is situated on a slope of the Apennines, on the flood plain along the upper part of the river Tiber. The city is north o ...
, in
Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...
to Pietro Burri, a tuscan wine merchant, and Carolina Torreggiani, an
umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...
n elementary school teacher. In 1935, Burri attended a government High school in Arezzo living as a boarder in a pension, and as his school reports noted, he studied
Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
on a private school in Città di Castello. On his return from North Africa, Burri and his younger brother Vittorio were enrolled in the medical school in Perugia, and following his African adventure, Burri decided he wanted to specialize in tropical diseases. Burri graduated from medical school in 1940, and on 12 October that year, two days after Italy's entrance into
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, with an precocious voluntary experience in the Italo-Ethiopian War, was then recalled into military service, and sent to
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...
as a combat medic. Army records show that within 20 days of this order, Burri received a temporary discharge to allow him to complete his medical internship and gain the diploma to qualify as a medical doctor. Burri claimed he studied art history, because he wanted to be able to understand the works of art that surrounded him. He also studied Greek, a language in which he became proficient, and later in life was able to read and enjoy
Classical Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...
literature. On 8 May 1943 the unit he was part of was captured by the British in
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
and was later turned over to the Americans and transferred to Hereford, Texas in a prisoner-of-war camp housing around 3000 Italian officers, where he began painting. After his liberation in 1946, he moved to
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 ...
and devoted himself exclusively to
painting 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 a ...
; his first solo exhibition took place at the La Margherita Gallery in 1947. He then exhibited at the Marlborough Gallery in New York and at the Gallery de France in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
. Prevented from practicing his medical profession, Burri had the opportunity of choosing a leisure activity thanks to the
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
Association. Using the limited amount of materials available in the camp he took on the activity of painting, at the age of almost 30 and without any kind of academic reference. Meanwhile, the tragic death of his younger brother Vittorio on the Russian front in 1943 had a strong impact on him. Shutting himself off from the rest of the world, and depicting figurative subjects on thick chromatic marks, he progressively realized the desire of abandoning the medical profession, in favor of painting.


Paintings


From abstraction to matter

Once Burri returned to Italy on 27 February 1946, his decision collided with the severe post–World War II recession and his parents' dissatisfaction. He moved to Rome as a guest of the violinist and composer Annibale Bucchi, his mother's cousin, who encouraged his activity as a painter. While in Rome, he had the chance of establishing a contact with the few but very active institutions dedicated to painting, which were creating a new platform for visual arts after the war. He remained a reserved artist, ceaselessly working and creating, initially in a small studio 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 origina ...
but frequently moving out. As a matter of fact,
Milton Gendel Milton Gendel (December 16, 1918 – October 11, 2018) was an American photographer and art critic who worked for most of his career in Italy. Biography Gendel was born in New York City, New York in December 1918 but lived in Rome from 1949 on ...
– an American journalist who visited Burri's studio in 1954 –, later reported: "''The studio is thick-walled, whitewashed, neat and ascetic; his work is 'blood and flesh', reddened torn fabric that seems to parallel the staunching of wounds that Burri experienced in wartime''.” Burri's first solo figurative artworks exhibition took place on 10 July 1947 at the gallery-cum-bookshop La Margherita, in Rome, presented by the poets
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, Sinisg ...
and Libero De Libero. However, Burri's artistic production flowed definitively into abstract forms before the end of the same year, the use of small format tempera resulting from the influence of such artists as
Jean Dubuffet Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French painter and sculptor. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what he believed to be a ...
and Joan Miró, whose studio was visited by Burri during a trip to Paris in the winter of 1948.


Tars, Molds, Hunchbacks

Burri's artistic research became personal in short time, between 1948 and 1950 he began experimenting with using unusual, 'unorthodox' materials such as
tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bi ...
,
sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class ...
,
zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
,
pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular v ...
, and
Aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
dust as well as Polyvinyl chloride glue, this last material being elevated to the same importance as oil colors. During this artistic transition, the painter showed his sensitivity to the mixed-media type of abstraction of Enrico Prampolini, a central figure in Italian
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 ...
. Nonetheless Burri went one step further in his ''Catrami'' (Tars), presenting tar not as a simple
collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an Assemblage (art), assemblage of different forms, thus creat ...
material, but as an actual color which – by way of different lucid and opaque shades in monochrome black–, blended itself with the totality of the painting. His 1948 "Nero 1" (Black 1) was later taken by the artist as initial milestone of his painting and established the prevalence of the black monochrome, which will be maintained as close identity throughout his career, alongside white, since ''Bianchi'' (Whites) 1949–50 series, and red. The following series of ''Muffe'' (Molds) literally presented the spontaneous reactions of the materials employed, enabling matter to 'come to life' in drippings and concretions which reproduced the effects and appearance of real mold. In some artworks of the same period which he called ''Gobbi'' (Hunchbacks), Burri focused on the painting's spatial interaction, achieving another original outcome due to the incorporation of tree branches on the rear of the canvas which pushed two-dimensionality towards
Three-dimensional space Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informa ...
.Christov-Bakargiev, Carolyn (1997). "Alberto Burri, The Surface at Risk", in Tolomeo, Maria Grazia, Christov-Bakargiev, Carolyn. ''Burri Retrospektive, 1915–1995.'' Milan: Electa. Exhibition catalogue. pp. 81–83 In 1949 the critic
Christian Zervos Christian Zervos ( el, Χρήστος Ζερβός; Argostoli, Cefalonia, Greece, January 1, 1889 – September 12, 1970, Paris) was a Greek-French art historian, critic, collector, writer and publisher. Better known as an art critic in his own ri ...
published the photo of a ''Catrame'' (exhibited in Paris the previous year) in the renowned
Cahiers d'art ''Cahiers d'Art'' is a French artistic and literary journal founded in 1926 by Christian Zervos. ''Cahiers d'Art'' is also an eponymous publishing house which has published many monographs on artists living in France in the first half of the twent ...
''.'' Despite Burri's affinity with
informalism Informalism or Art Informel is a pictorial movement from the 1943–1950s, that includes all the abstract and gestural tendencies that developed in France and the rest of Europe during the World War II, similar to American abstract expression ...
and his friendship with Ettore Colla, which brought Alberto close to the ''Gruppo Origine'' (established and disbanded in 1951 by Colla himself, Mario Balocco and
Giuseppe Capogrossi Giuseppe Capogrossi (7 March 1900 – 9 October 1972) was an Italian painter. Biography Capogrossi was born in Rome. After obtaining a degree in law in 1923–1924, he decided to study painting with Felice Carena at Accademia di Belle Arti di Ro ...
), the painter's artistic research appeared more and more solitary and independent.Carandente, Giovanni (2007). "Burri: memories of a friendship, 1948–1988". In Palumbo, Piero (2007). ''Burri'', ''Una Vita''. Milan: Electa. p. 177


Sacchi and the American emergence

Starting in 1952 Burri achieved a strong, personal characterization with the ''Sacchi'' (Sacks), artworks directly obtained from
jute Jute is a long, soft, shiny bast fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', which is in the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is '' Corchorus ol ...
fabric widely distributed by the
Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...
: color almost entirely disappeared, leaving space for the surface material so that painting coincide with its
matter In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic part ...
in its total autonomy, as it was no more separation between painting surface and its form. The formal artistic elegance and the spatial balances obtained through aeroform steams, craters, rips, overlapping color layers and different forms, differentiated Burri's art, founded on attentive reflections and precise calculations, from the impulsive gestures that characterized Action painting during the same period. Burri offered an initial view of these peculiar elements in 1949, with ''SZ1'' (acronym for ''Sacco di Zucchero 1'' meaning Sack of Sugar, 1): the presence of a portion of the american flag contained in the artwork anticipated the use of the same subject made by pop art. In Burri's case, however, there were no social or symbolic implications, the painting's formal and chromatic balance being the only real focus.


Censorship and success

Burri's ''Sacchi'' did not win the public's understanding and were instead considered as extremely far from the notion of art. In 1952, year of his first participation at the
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
exhibition, the Sacks titled ''Lo Strappo'' (The Rip) and ''Rattoppo'' (Patch) were rejected. Again, in 1959 a point of order of the Italian Parliament asked for the removal of one of the painter's works from the
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna The ("national gallery of modern and contemporary art"), also known as La Galleria Nazionale, is an art gallery in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1883 on the initiative of the then Minister Guido Baccelli and is dedicated to modern and contempora ...
in Rome. Burri's work received a different and positive consideration in 1953, when
James Johnson Sweeney James Johnson Sweeney (1900–1986) was an American curator, and writer about modern art. Sweeney graduated from Georgetown University in 1922. From 1935 to 1946, he was curator for the Museum of Modern Art. He was the second director of the Solo ...
(director of the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...
) discovered Burri's paintings at the Obelisco Gallery in Rome, and subsequently introduced the artist's work to the United States, in a collective exhibition representative of the new European artistic tendencies. This encounter subsequently led to a life-long friendship with Sweeney becoming an active a proponent of Burri's art in leading American Museums and writing the very first monograph about the artist in 1955. During the same year Robert Rauschenberg visited the painter's studio two times: despite the linguistic differences between the two artists prevented them to talking to each other, Rauschenberg's visits provided substantial input for the creation of his ''Combine Paintings.'' Burri's strong relationship with the United States became official when he met Minsa Craig (1928–2003), an American ballet dancer (student of
Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She ...
) and choreographer whom he married on 15 May 1955 in Westport, Connecticut. They stuck together through thick and thin, for the rest of their lives.


Adoption of fire

After a few sporadic attempts, in 1953–54 Burri conducted a carefully planned experimentation with fire, through small combustions on paper, which served as illustrations for a book of poems by
Emilio Villa Emilio Villa (Milan, 21 September 1914 – Rieti, 14 January 2003) was an Italian poet, visual artist, translator, art critic and Bible scholar.p. ii, Siracusa, Dominic Edward. 2014. ''Emilio Villa: Poet of Biblical Proportions: A Dissertation and ...
. The poet was one of the first to understand the painter's revolutionary artistic potential, writing about it since 1951 and working with him to artist's books. He later recalled a common visit to an oil field (for a 1955 reportage for the magazine "Civiltà delle Macchine") as a strong influence for the artist's interest on the use of fire.


Combustions, Woods, Irons, Plastics

The procedure adopted for the ''Combustioni'' (Combustions) passed from paper to the ''Legni'' (Woods) around 1957, in thin sheets of wood veneer fastened to canvas and other supports. In the same period Burri was also working on the ''Ferri'' (Irons), creations made out of metal sheets cut, and welded by Blow torch, to aim the general balance of the elements. The best known application of this procedure was reached in the ''Plastiche'' (Plastics) during the Sixties, when a gradual critic openness towards Burri's art showed up in Italy as well. The blowtorch was only apparently a destructive device. Indeed, the craters modeled by the flame on cellophane, black, red or transparent plastic or on the ''Bianchi Plastica'' (White Plastic) series, in which the transparent plastic is laid on a white or black support, were lightly directed by the painter's blowing. The balances of the matter were thus highlighted once again, in a sort of 'defiance' towards of flame's randomness on the one hand, and in a sort of attempt to 'dominate chance', intrinsic to Burri's philosophy, on the other.


From Cretto to Cellotex

From 1963 on, Burri and his wife started spending their winters in Los Angeles. The painter progressively detached himself from the city's artistic community, deeply focusing on his own work. During his recurrent trips to
Death Valley National Park Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eurek ...
, the artist found in the natural cracking of the desert the visual spur which led him, starting from 1973, to create ''Cretti'' (Cracks) developing the use of the crackled paint effect of his 1940's artworks. Employing a special mixture of kaolin, resins and pigment, the painter dried its surface with the heat of an oven. Burri arrested the heating process at the desired moment using a PVA glue layer, thus obtaining greater and lesser cracking effects, which were always balanced thanks to the painter's extensive knowledge of chemistry.


Grande Cretto at Gibellina

Burri reproduced the procedure used for the ''Cretti,'' either black or white, also in sculpture, on large extensions in the
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...
and Naples ( Museo di Capodimonte) ''Grandi Cretti'' (Large Cracks) made of baked clay (both 49 x 16) and, most importantly, in the vast cement covering of the ''
Cretto di Burri The Cretto di Burri (crack of Burri) or Cretto di Gibellina (crack of Gibellina), also known as "Il Grande Cretto (The Great Crack)", is a landscape artwork undertaken by Alberto Burri in 1984 and left unfinished in 1989 (due to lack of funds), ...
'' at
Gibellina Gibellina ( Sicilian: ''Jibbiddina'', Arabic: "little mount" - جبل صغير) is a small city and ''comune'' in the Province of Trapani, the mountains of central Sicily, Italy. It was destroyed by the 1968 Belice earthquake. The new city, G ...
, upon the ruins of the old small Sicilian town destroyed by the 1968 earthquake. Began in 1984 and interrupted in 1989, the work was completed in 2015, for the artist's centenary of birth. It is one of the largest works of art ever realized, extending over an area of approximately 85,000 square meters. Its white concrete covering expands over the town, following the old street map in long arterial roads and corridors, which are walkable, thus symbolically bringing the devastated town back to life.


Cellotex and the large cycles of paintings

During the Seventies Burri's art saw a gradual transition towards wider dimensions, while retrospectives followed one another around the world. The great solo exhibition crossing the United States in 1977–78 and ending at the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...
in New York is one example. In the 1979 cycle of paintings called ''Il Viaggio'' (The Journey) Burri retraced, through ten monumental compositions, the key moments of his artistic production. The privileged material during this phase is Celotex (the author added an ''l'' to its name), an industrial mixture of wood production scraps and adhesives, very often used in the making of insulating boards. Up to then, the painter had used this material in his previous works since the early 1950s as a support for his acetate and acrylic works. After that Cellotex was used for cyclical series conceived as polyptych on a dominant and clear geometrical structure, through extremely thin scratched shades or juxtapositions of smooth and rough portions like ''Orsanmichele'' (1981), or in black monochromes variations like ''Annottarsi'' (Up to Nite, 1985), as well as in multicolored forms like ''Sestante'' (
Sextant A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of ce ...
, 1983) or the homage to the gold of Ravenna mosaics in his last ''Nero e Oro'' (Black and Gold) series.


Sculpture and set design

Burri's entire artistic production was conceived by the author as an inseparable whole of form and space, both in painting and in sculpture. An example is the recurrent motif of the archivolt, viewed in its plain form in painting and in perspective in such iron sculptures as ''Teatro Scultura'' – a work presented at 1984 Venice Biennale –, and in the 1972 Ogive series in '' ceramics''. The strong continuity of Burri's sculptural works with his paintings can also be seen in the Los Angeles UCLA and Naples Capodimonte ceramic ''Grandi Cretti'' (with the help of the long collaborator ceramist Massimo Baldelli), or in the ''Grande Ferro'' (Large Iron) exhibited in Perugia on the occasion of the 1980 meeting between the artist and Joseph Beuys. The ''Large Cretto'' at Gibellina doesn't properly fall under the category of land art, but it has features combining architecture, sculpture and space. Other sculptures on iron are permanently held in Città di Castello museums, Ravenna, Celle (Pistoia), Perugia and Milan, where the rotating wings of the ''Teatro Continuo'' (Continuous Theatre) is both real scenic space and sculpture, employing the Sforza Castle park as natural backcloth.


Theatre sets

Theater had a privileged role in Burri's artistic production. Though in isolated interventions, the painter worked in the fields of prose, ballet and opera. In 1963 Burri designed the sets for ''Spirituals'', Morton Gould's ballet at
La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...
, in Milan. The painter's ''Plastiche'' emphasized the dramatic force of such plays as the 1969
Ignazio Silone Secondino Tranquilli (1 May 1900 – 22 August 1978), known by the pseudonym Ignazio Silone (, ), was an Italian political leader, novelist, and short-story writer, world-famous during World War II for his powerful anti-fascist novels. He was no ...
stage adaptation in San Miniato (Pisa) and Tristan and Iseult, performed in 1975 at the Teatro Regio in Turin. In 1973 Burri designed sets and costumes for ''November Steps'', conceived by his wife Minsa Craig, with a score by Toru Takemitsu. The ballet was interacting with an early example of visual art by a film clip depicting how the ''Cretti'' progressively came into being.


Graphic work

Burri never considered graphic art of secondary importance to painting. He participated intensively in the experimentation of new printing techniques as the 1965 reproduction of the ''Combustioni'' – in which the husband and wife team of Valter and Eleonora Rossi perfectly succeeded in mimicking the effect of burning on paper –, or the irregular ''Cretti'' cavities (1971) with the same printers. Further innovative developments can be found in the silk screens ''Sestante'' (1987–89) – with the help of Burri's old friend and collaborator Nuvolo – to the ''Mixoblack'' series (1988), created with the Los Angeles print workshop
Mixografia Mixografia is a publisher of fine art prints and a contemporary art gallery located in the Central-Alameda neighborhood southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. Mixografia also refers to the workshop's printing process of the same name, which involves t ...
using marble dust and sand to create printing surfaces with certain textural three-dimensional effects. A telling fact is that Burri used the money from the Feltrinelli Prize for graphics – awarded to him in 1973 by the
Accademia dei Lincei The Accademia dei Lincei (; literally the " Academy of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in R ...
– to promote and support the restoration of Luca Signorelli's frescos in the small oratory of San Crescentino, only few kilometers far from Burri's country house in Città di Castello; a further example of how modern and contemporary are mentally close in Burri's art.


Legacy

Alberto Burri died childless on 13 February 1995 in Nice, in the
French Riviera The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend from ...
, where he had moved for the ease of living and because of a pulmonary
emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alv ...
. Just before his death, the painter was awarded the
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleo ...
and the title
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-rankin ...
, besides being named an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His graphic series ''Oro e Nero'' (Gold and Black), was donated by the artist among others at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence 1994, by which time he was already beginning to be considered more of a 'classical' than a 'contemporary' artist. Alberto Burri's art captured the interest of many contemporary artist colleagues, from
Lucio Fontana Lucio Fontana (; 19 February 1899 – 7 September 1968) was an Argentine-Italian painter, sculptor and theorist. He is mostly known as the founder of Spatialism. Early life Born in Rosario, to Italian immigrant parents, he was ...
and Giorgio Morandi to Jannis Kounellis, Michelangelo Pistoletto and
Anselm Kiefer Anselm Kiefer (born 8 March 1945) is a German painter and sculptor. He studied with Peter Dreher and Horst Antes at the end of the 1960s. His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac. The poems of Paul Celan h ...
, who recognized Burri's greatness – and, in some cases, influence – time and time again.


Foundation and the museums

In accordance with the painter's will, the Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini was established in Città di Castello in 1978, in order to copyright Burri's own work. The first museum collection, inaugurated in 1981, is the one situated inside the Albizzini Renaissance apartment building. The 15th century Patrician house, belonged to the patrons of
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. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual ...
's '' Wedding of the Virgin'', was refurbished by the architects Alberto Zanmatti and Tiziano Sarteanesi in accordance with Burri's own plans.Sarteanesi, Nemo (1996). "The Fondazione Albizzini Collezione Burri in Città di Castello". In Tolomeo, Maria Grazia, & Christov-Bakargiev, Carolyn (1997). ''Burri Retrospektiv 1915–1995''. Milan: Electa. pp. 122–125Corà, Bruno (2014). ''Burri Collection''. Città di Castello: Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini Collezione Burri. The second collection is that of the Città di Castello former tobacco drying sheds, an industrial structure gradually abandoned during the 1960s and inaugurated in 1990, expanding over an area of 11,500 square meters. At present, the structure features the totality of large cycles of painting by the artist, monumental sculptures and, from March 2017 on, the painter's entire graphic production. The structure's black exterior and the particular space adaptations represent one last attempt by Burri to create a total work of art, in continuity with the idea of formal and psychological balance he constantly pursued.


Critical appraisal

Alberto Burri is recognized as a radical innovator of the second half of the twentieth century, as a precursor of the solutions found by such artistic movements as Arte Povera, Neo-Dada, Nouveau réalisme,
Postminimalism Postminimalism is an art term coined (as post-minimalism) by Robert Pincus-Witten in 1971Chilvers, Ian and Glaves-Smith, John, ''A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art'', second edition (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. ...
and process art, leaving open many critical interpretations and methodological interpretations of his work. In his 1963 monograph,
Cesare Brandi Cesare Brandi (Siena, 8 April 1906 – Vignano, 19 January 1988) was an art critic and historian, specialist in conservation-restoration theory. In 1939 he became the first director of the ''Istituto Centrale per il Restauro'' (Central Institute ...
highlighted the essentialness of Burri's painting and his rejection of both decorative detail and the historical avant-gardes' (e.g.
Futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects suc ...
) provocations, favoring a new approach through an 'unpainted painting' concept. On the other hand,
Enrico Crispolti Enrico Crispolti (18 April 1933 – 8 December 2018) was an Italian art critic, curator and art historian. From 1984 to 2005, he was professor of history of contemporary art at the Università degli Studi di Siena, and director of the school of s ...
interpreted Burri's employment of material from an existential point of view – as
James Johnson Sweeney James Johnson Sweeney (1900–1986) was an American curator, and writer about modern art. Sweeney graduated from Georgetown University in 1922. From 1935 to 1946, he was curator for the Museum of Modern Art. He was the second director of the Solo ...
similarly had in the very first monograph on Burri published in 1955 – implying a criticism towards a certain post-war ethical drift.
Pierre Restany Pierre Restany (24 June 1930 – 29 May 2003), was an internationally known French art critic and cultural philosopher. Restany was born in Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda, Pyrénées-Orientales, and spent his childhood in Casablanca. On retur ...
considered him as a "special case" in the
Minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Do ...
history, having been "''the monumental outsider and genial precursor at the same time''". Maurizio Calvesi adopted a psychoanalytic reading during the years, finding "ethical values" in his art, identifying at the same time the Renaissance origins of Burri's homeland: Piero della Francesca would have inspired in Burri the sense of space and solemnity of the masses which the painter then transferred on the combusted woods or the worn-out sacks. More recently, Burri's position has been reevaluated thanks to the 2015 major retrospective exhibition ''Alberto Burri: The Trauma of Painting'' curated by Emily Braun for the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...
and to the 2016 collective exhibition ''Burri Lo spazio di Materia tra Europa e USA'' edited by the current Foundation chairman Bruno Corà, which foregrounded the radical change in traditional Western painting and modern collage brought about by Burri, while also focusing on his 'psychological' recovery of classical painting's formal balances alive. Among the many historical readings,
Giulio Carlo Argan Giulio Carlo Argan (17 May 1909 – 12 November 1992) was an Italian art historian, critic and politician. Biography Argan was born in Turin and studied in the University of Turin, graduating in 1931. In 1928 he entered the National Fascist Part ...
's judgment (written in the 1960
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
catalogue) remains emblematic: "''For Burri we must speak for an overturned Trompe-l'œil, because it is no more painting to simulate reality, but it is reality to simulate painting''."


Exhibitions

Burri's career began in Rome with a first solo exhibition in 1947 at La Margherita bookshop, owned by
Irene Brin Irene Brin (born Maria Victoria Rossi, 14 June 1911 – 31 May 1969) was an Italian fashion journalist, writer and art dealer. Biography Irene Brin was born in Rome from a well-educated Ligurian family of progressive views. Her father was gener ...
, where he presented his first abstract works the following year. Brin and her husband, Gaspero del Corso founded the Obelisco Gallery, the first art gallery to open in Postwar Rome, featuring the 1952 solo exhibition ''Muffe e Neri'' (Molds and Blacks) and the first ''Combustions'' in 1957. The Burri's first exhibition with the ''Sacchi'' was presented by the poet
Emilio Villa Emilio Villa (Milan, 21 September 1914 – Rieti, 14 January 2003) was an Italian poet, visual artist, translator, art critic and Bible scholar.p. ii, Siracusa, Dominic Edward. 2014. ''Emilio Villa: Poet of Biblical Proportions: A Dissertation and ...
at the Origine Foundation in 1952, in confirmation of his increasingly original production. The ''Ferri'' (Irons) were held at Galleria Blu in Milan. From 1953 on, Burri regularly exhibited his works in the United States, at the Allan Frumkin Gallery (Chicago), the Stable Gallery and the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York. In the same year, the director and curator of Guggenheim Museum
James Johnson Sweeney James Johnson Sweeney (1900–1986) was an American curator, and writer about modern art. Sweeney graduated from Georgetown University in 1922. From 1935 to 1946, he was curator for the Museum of Modern Art. He was the second director of the Solo ...
included Burri in the landmark exhibition ''Younger European Painters: A Selection'' bringing his work to focus in the international community. Burri's initially seesawing relationship with the
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
marked its turning point in 1960, when he was offered his first solo area by
Giulio Carlo Argan Giulio Carlo Argan (17 May 1909 – 12 November 1992) was an Italian art historian, critic and politician. Biography Argan was born in Turin and studied in the University of Turin, graduating in 1931. In 1928 he entered the National Fascist Part ...
. In 1962
Cesare Brandi Cesare Brandi (Siena, 8 April 1906 – Vignano, 19 January 1988) was an art critic and historian, specialist in conservation-restoration theory. In 1939 he became the first director of the ''Istituto Centrale per il Restauro'' (Central Institute ...
presented the ''Plastiche'' at the
Marlborough Fine Art Marlborough Fine Art was founded in London in 1946 by Frank Lloyd and Harry Fischer. In 1963, a gallery was opened as Marlborough-Gerson in Manhattan, New York, at the Fuller Building on Madison Avenue and 57th Street, which later relocated i ...
in Rome. The first anthological retrospectives were held around this time and in the following decade, as the solo exhibitions at the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris (1972), the one in
Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...
Sacred Convent (1975) and the great traveling exhibit which started at the
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
's Frederick S. Wight Gallery in Los Angeles, moved to the Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute in San Antonio (Texas) and ended in 1978 at the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...
. From 1979 on, the ''Large Cycles'' of paintings on ''Cellotex'' dominated Burri's entire subsequent production, which was conceived for big spaces such as cathedrals (like the 1981 Cycle in Florence titled ''Gli Orti'') or former industrial complexes, like the Giudecca Isle's ex-boatyards in Venice, where he exhibited the chromatic series ''Sestante''. In 1994, Burri presented the cycle titled ''Burri The Athens Polyptych. Architecture with Cactus'' for the exhibit curated by Giuliano Serfafini at the National Gallery (Athens), and then at the Italian Institute of Culture in Madrid (1995). The 1996 posthumous anthological exhibition at
Palazzo delle Esposizioni The Palazzo delle Esposizioni is a neoclassical exhibition hall, cultural center and museum on Via Nazionale in Rome, Italy. History Designed by Pio Piacentini, it opened in 1883. It has housed several exhibitions (e.g. Mostra della Rivo ...
(Rome) was successfully repeated at Lenbachhaus (Munich) and at the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels. In 2015–16 the major retrospective exhibition ''The Trauma of Painting'' organized by Emily Braun at the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...
in New York (later at the
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is the art collection of the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, in Düsseldorf. United by this institution are three different exhibition venues: the ''K20'' at Grabbeplatz, the ''K21'' in the ...
, Düsseldorf in 2016) received much international attention to the painter's art. At the conclusion of the centenary of Alberto Burri's birth, the exhibition titled ''Burri Lo spazio di materia tra Europa e USA'' curated by Bruno Corà established a comparison between the epigones of 20th century material art. The exhibit was held in Città di Castello, in the exhibition space of the former tobacco drying sheds which, since 2017, house the painter's graphic collection.


Art market

At a
Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
London sale of works from a private collection in the north of Italy, Burri’s ''Combustione legno'' (1957) was auctioned for 3.2 million in 2011. On 11 February 2014
Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémi ...
established the artist's record with the work ''Combustione Plastica'', sold for £4,674,500 (estimate range of £600,000 to £800,000). The work (signed and dated on the back) in plastic, acrylic and combustion (4 ft x 5 ft) was made between 1960 and 1961. The artist's record was established in 2016 in London when, during the evening dedicated by
Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
to the 1959 contemporary ''Sacco e Rosso,'' the artwork was sold for over £9 million, thus doubling the previous record.


Tributes

Alberto Burri's art has inspired many Italian directors, among which
Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni (, ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for directing his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents"—''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and ''L'Eclisse'' (1962 ...
, who drew inspiration from the painter's material research for his 1964 Red Desert''.'' Composer
Salvatore Sciarrino Salvatore Sciarrino (born 4 April 1947) is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music. Described as "the best-known and most performed Italian composer" of the present day, his works include ''Quaderno di strada'' (2003) and ''La porta d ...
wrote an homage to commemorate the painter's passing in 1995, commissioned by Città di Castello's Festival delle Nazioni. For the same festival the former tobacco drying sheds became the setting of a composition by
Alvin Curran Alvin Curran (born December 13, 1938) is an American composer, performer, improviser, sound artist, and writer. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and lives and works in Rome, Italy. He is the co-founder, with Frederic Rzewski and Richard ...
in 2002. The ''Large Cretto'' at Gibellina has functioned several times as a set for the ''Orestiadi'' Festival and as set for a 2015 performance by artists Giancarlo Neri and
Robert Del Naja Robert Del Naja (; born 21 January 1965), also known as 3D, is a British artist, musician, singer and songwriter. He emerged as a graffiti artist and member of the Bristol collective the Wild Bunch, and later as a founding member and sole con ...
( Massive Attack). The 1973 ballet ''November Steps'', with Burri's sets and costumes, was proposed again in 2015 by the Guggenheim Museum, New York. In 2016 choreographer Virgilio Sieni created the work ''Quintetti sul Nero'', inspired by the Umbrian master. In 2017 John Densmore (
The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts ...
) performed in front of the ''Grande Nero Cretto'' (Large Black Crack) at
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
, Los Angeles during the event ''Burri Prometheia''. Throughout the years, fashion designers have drawn inspiration from Burri, from Roberto Capucci, with his 1969 item of clothing ''Omaggio a Burri'' which has asymmetric features recreating the ''Cretti'' effects, up to Laura Biagiotti for her (last) 2017 collection. In 1987 Burri created the official
1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being ...
posters. The Umbria Jazz Festival used the ''Sestante'' series for the 2015 edition poster, celebrating the artist's centenary of birth.


Documentaries

* 1960 Carandente, Giovanni. ''Burri'', Rome * 1974 Simongini, Franco. Brandi, Cesare. ''Alberto Burri: l'avventura della ricerca'' (RAI/TV) * 1976 Quilici, Folco. Brandi, Cesare. ''L'Italia vista dal cielo. Umbria'' (Esso) * 1995 Rubini, Rubino. ''Burri'' (P.P.M., Rome) * 2011 Gambino'','' Davide. Guarneri, Dario. ''Alberto Burri, La vita nell'arte'' (Centro sperimentale di Cinematografia sezione documentario Sicilia) * 2015 Severi, Luca. ''Alberto Burri e Piero della Francesca le due rivoluzioni'' (Zen Europe/Sky) * 2015 Noordkamp, Petra. ''Il Grande Cretto di Gibellina'' (Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation) * 2015 Valeri, Stefano''. Alberto Burri Il tempo dell'arte'' (Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini Collezione Burri) * 2016 Moneta, Matteo. ''Alberto Burri e la sua città'' (3D Produzioni/ Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini Collezione Burri) * 2017 Sterparelli, Giuseppe. ''VARIAZIONI: a visual polyphony


Footnotes


References


Bibliography

* * Braun, Emily, with Fontanella, Megan, & Stringari, Carol (2015). ''Alberto Burri: The Trauma of Painting. New York:'' Guggenheim Museum Publications. * * * * Carandente, Giovanni (2007). "Burri: Memories of a Friendship 1948–1988", in Palumbo (Piero), ''Burri. Una vita.'' Milan: Electa. 2007, pp. 176–183. * * * * * * * * * * * * Melandri, Luisa, with Duncan, Michael (2010). ''Combustione, Alberto Burri and America''. Los Angeles: Santa Monica Museum of Art. Exhibition catalogue. * * * * * * * * * * * Tolomeo, Maria Grazia, & Christov-Bakargiev, Carolyn (1997). ''Burri Retrospektiv 1915–1995''. Milan: Electa. Exhibition catalogue. * Trucchi, Lorenza (2007). "Nobilis et Humilis" in Palumbo (Piero), ''Burri. Una vita'', Electa, Milan, 2007, pp. 184–185. * *


External links


Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini "Collezione Burri", with photographs of works

Solomon R. Gugghenheim Museum New York ''Alberto Burri The Trauma of Painting'' exhibition page (2015–16)

Trailer ''Alberto Burri and Piero della Francesca: the Two Revolutions'' documentary by Luca Severi (2015)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burri, Alberto Abstract painters Art Informel and Tachisme painters 1915 births 1995 deaths Umbrian painters University of Perugia alumni 20th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Italian contemporary artists People from Città di Castello 20th-century Italian sculptors 20th-century Italian male artists Italian male sculptors 20th-century Italian physicians Italian abstract artists