Aimée Battistini (1916 – 8 July 1989) was a Venezuelan painter.

Biography

Battistini was born to a

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

n family, in the state of Bolívar, Venezuela. From a young age she reproduced classics of oil painting. Upon moving to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1928 with her family, Battistini began four years of studies at the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

. She worked in her own studio between 1936 and 1939, a period that was marked by an

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

trend, although during this time she also dabbled in the Cubist style. In 1940, Battistini returned to Venezuela and her friendship with the painter and sculptor

Alejandro Otero Alejandro Otero (El Manteco, Bolívar, March 7, 1921 — Caracas, August 13, 1990) was a Venezuelan painter of Geometric abstraction, a sculptor, a writer and a cultural promoter. He was a founding member of the Los Disidentes group. Early ...

began, whom he would help her upon their arrival in Paris with Jesús Rafael Soto years later. In 1941, she lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, until 1945 when she returned to France after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Her house in Paris was the meeting place for the group called

Los disidentes The artistic movement known as Los Disidentes was founded in Paris in 1945, lasting until about 1950. It was composed of a group of Venezuelan artists. Artistic principles The " Manifesto No" was the group's manifesto of artistic principles, wh ...

, made up of Venezuelan artists who were supporters of the abstractionist style and were against the plastic canon that was in force in Venezuela, where landscape, anecdotal and indigenous styles predominated. In March 1950, they began to publish a homonymous abstract art magazine. Battistini participated in a group exhibition organized in Paris by the Denise René Gallery in 1953; here, she was together with important artists of the abstract-geometric avant-garde. A year later, she dissolves a group of artists that worked around her workshop and that was called La Sapoara. From 1954 to 1961, Battistini lived in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, and then she returned to Paris, where she would reside until the day of her death. Three years later, she would definitively retire from painting.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battistini, Aimee 1916 births 1989 deaths People from Bolívar (state) 20th-century Venezuelan painters Venezuelan people of Corsican descent Venezuelan women painters Venezuelan expatriates in France 20th-century women painters