Antonio Alice (23 February 1886 – 24 August 1943) was an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

portrait painter Portrait painting is a Hierarchy of genres, genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commissio ...

. He was awarded the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

in 1904.

Early years

Alice, of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

descent, was born 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 ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. His father, an Italian immigrant, was barely literate. His two sisters, Matilde and Santina, posed for several of his paintings. Expelled from school and considered incorrigible for drawing in his textbooks, Alice went to work as a shoeblack. At the age of 11, while sketching

Gaucho A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, the southern part of Bolivia, and the south of Chilean Patago ...

portraits between shoe shines, he was discovered by Cupertino del Campo, who went on to become the director of the National Museum of Fine Arts of Buenos Aires. Del Campo referred Alice to the painter, Decoroso Bonifanti who gave the boy his first painting lesson in 1897. In 1904, he was awarded the

(''Premio Roma'') and entered the Royal Academy of Painting in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, studying under Giacomo Grosso, Francisco Gilardi, and Andrea Tavernier. During his four years at the Academy, he was awarded three Gold Medals.

Career

left, ''La muerte de Güemes'' (1910) 150px, Portrait of the priest and politician, Benjamín Lavaisse (ca. 1920) At the 1908 Quadriennale di Torino, his ''Portrait of the Painter Decoroso Bonifanti'' won acclaim, and in 1911 in Buenos Aires, he received the painting prize at the 1st Salon Nacional de Bellas Artes for ''Portrait of a Lady''. Salon des Artistes Français. ''San Martin en el destierro'', painted in 1913 in Paris, is considered one of his best works. He was awarded the Silver Medal at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1914, which included an annually exhibited ''hors concours'' painting. His painting ''La muerte de Güemes'', which received a Gold Medal at the 1910 Centenary of National Independence Exposition, was later purchased for display by the Salta Provincial Government. In 1915, he won the Medal of Honor in paintings at the

Panama–Pacific International Exposition The Panama–Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California, United States, from February 20 to December 4, 1915. Its stated purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely s ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, USA. Three years later, he exhibited 60 Brazilian canvases in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. Alice painted several portraits of notable Argentines of his time, including General Julio Argentino Roca, Joaquín Víctor González, and Marcelino Ugarte. Other important works were large canvases with the theme of patriotic exaltation, including ''"San Martín en Boulogne-sur-Mer'', ''Argentina, Tierra de promisión'', and ''Los Constituyentes de 1853''.

Criticism

At the 10th Salon Nacional de Bellas Artes, his work was described by the painter and art critic José León Pagano (1875-1964) as "struggling in vain with an ingrate theme...and his effort is limited to giving us a violent note and doubtful taste."

Later life

Alice died in Buenos Aires in 1943 at the age of 57.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alice, Antonio 1886 births 1943 deaths Argentine people of Italian descent Painters from Buenos Aires Argentine portrait painters Prix de Rome for painting 20th-century Argentine painters 20th-century Argentine male artists Argentine male painters Shoeshiners