Aldo Carpi (6 October 1886 – 27 March 1973) was an Italian artist, painter and writer, author of a collection of memoirs concerning his imprisonment in the infamous

Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...

Biography

Born in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Italy, early in his youth he started studying fine arts under the tutelage of Stefano Bersani. In 1906 he joined the

Brera Academy The Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (), also known as the or Brera Academy, is a state-run tertiary public academy of fine arts in Milan, Italy. It shares its history, and its main building, with the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan's main public mu ...

, where he met some of the most renowned Italian painters of the time, including Giuseppe Mentessi,

Carlo Cattaneo Carlo Cattaneo (; 15 June 1801 – 6 February 1869) was an Italian philosopher, writer, and activist, famous for his role in the Five Days of Milan in March 1848, when he led the city council during the rebellion. Early life and education Cat ...

, Cesare Tallone, as well as Achille Funi, Emilio Gola and

Carlo Carrà Carlo Carrà (; February 11, 1881 – April 13, 1966) was an Italian painter and a leading figure of the Futurist movement that flourished in Italy during the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to his many paintings, he wrote a number ...

. The following year he showed his work at a Brera art exhibition, which was followed by an invitation to the 1912

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

. Since then he participated in every edition of the

up until his death, with the exception of those held in 1940, 1950 and 1952. Drafted into the

Italian Army The Italian Army ( []) is the Army, land force branch of the Italian Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the Italian unification in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China and Italo-Turkish War, Libya. It ...

in 1915, he served at various fronts of the

Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1917 he married Maria Arpesani, whom he had a son, Pinin Carpi, with on the 11th of July 1920. In the 1920s, Carpi developed the style of his paintings and landscapes under the influence of Italian 19th-century painters. For his works in 1925 he was awarded with the prestigious Premio Principe Umberto. In 1927 he became the author of new frescoes in the San Simpliciano Basilica in Milan. In 1930 he became the professor and deacon of the faculty of painting at his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

, where he would teach young painters including

Bruno Cassinari Bruno Cassinari (29 October 1912 – 26 March 1992) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked in a style that mixed cubism, cubist and expressionism, expressionist elements. Biography Cassinari was born in Piacenza, a city in Italy’s Emi ...

, Carlo Martini and

Trento Longaretti Trento Longaretti (27 September 1916 – 7 June 2017) was an Italian painter. He studied at the Brera Academy in the 1930s, where he was taught by renowned artists, including painters Aldo Carpi and Pompeo Borra, and sculptors Francesco Mess ...

. In 1934 he also prepared a project for the new

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

windows in the

Duomo of Milan Milan Cathedral ( ; ), or Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary (), is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Dedicated to the Nativity of St. Mary (), it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, currently Archbis ...

, which was not completed until after

World War II 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 ...

. In 1937 his work was featured at the

Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne The ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne'' (International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life) was held from 25 May to 25 November 1937 in Paris, France. Both the Palais de Chaillot, housing the Mu ...

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 ...

, where he was awarded a bronze medal. The piece is now in the collection of the Museo Cantonale d'Arte in

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

.Museo Cantonale d'Arte, Lugano: Aldo Carpi
/ref> In January 1944, during World War II, he was arrested after a colleague informed the Nazis of his partisan activities. He was imprisoned in the Gusen I concentration camp of the Mauthausen-Gusen complex, where he kept a diary and made a number of sketches portraying life and death in the camp. Carpi was liberated at the end of the war. He returned to Milan, where in 1956 he was awarded the state prize for his works and cultural merits. He also became the Dean of the Brera Academy. In 1972 he had a large retrospective of his works. He died in 1973 in Milan.

Exhibitions

* "Mostre d'arte in risaia", Mortara, 1936 and 1938, curated by Carlo Ercole Accetti.

References

* Antonella Crippa
Aldo Carpi
online catalogu
Artgate
by

Fondazione Cariplo Fondazione Cariplo is a charitable foundation in Milan, Italy. It was created in December 1991 when the Amato law, Law no. 218 of 30 July 1990, came into force. Under this law, saving banks were required to separate into a not-for-profit foun ...

, 2010, CC BY-SA.

External links

*
Diario di Gusen

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpi, Aldo 1886 births 1973 deaths Artists from Milan Italian male painters Italian Holocaust survivors 20th-century Italian painters Mauthausen concentration camp survivors Brera Academy alumni Academic staff of Brera Academy 20th-century Italian male artists