Armando Spadini (1883 - 1925) was an Italian painter and one of the representatives of the so-called

Scuola Romana Scuola romana or Scuola di via Cavour was a 20th-century art movement defined by a group of painters within Expressionism and active in Rome between 1928 and 1945, and with a second phase in the mid-1950s. Birth of the movement In November 19 ...

Biography

Spadini was born in Florence on July 29, 1883. Armando Spadini, the son of a craftsman and a seamstress from

Poggio a Caiano Poggio a Caiano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Prato, Tuscany region Italy. The town, birthplace of Philip Mazzei, lies south of the provincial capital of Prato. Sister towns Poggio a Caiano has two sister cities: * Charlottes ...

, was born in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

on 29 July 1883. After attending the decorated school of Santa Croce he enrolled in the Free School of Nude at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence where he met

Ardengo Soffici Ardengo Soffici (7 April 1879 – 19 August 1964) was an Italian writer, painter, poet, sculptor and intellectual. Early life Soffici was born in Rignano sull'Arno, near Florence. In 1893 his family moved to the latter city, where he studi ...

and

Adolfo De Carolis Adolfo de Carolis (1874–1928) was an Italian painter, xylographer, illustrator and photographer. He is generally associated with Art Nouveau (known as "Stile Liberty" in Italy), although many of his works could also be classified as Symbolism. ...

. In 1901, together with artists such as De Carolis,

Galileo Chini Galileo Chini (2 December 1873 - 23 August 1956) was an Italian decorator, designer, painter, and potter. A prominent member of the Italian Liberty style movement, or Italian Art Nouveau, he taught decorative arts at the Accademia di Belle Arti ...

, Duilio Cambellotti, Alberto Zardo and many others, he participated in the Alinari competition, obtaining the second prize for the illustration of the Divine Comedy. Soon after he began to make himself known in artistic and literary circles, collaborating with woodcuts and drawings at Papini's "Leonardo" and Borghese's "Hermes". After completing his military service in 1903-05, he returned to Florence and competed for the 1909 Pensionato artistico nazionale, and was the winner. In 1908 he married Pasqualina Cervone, who he met at the school of

Giovanni Fattori Giovanni Fattori (September 6, 1825August 30, 1908) was an Italian artist, one of the leaders of the group known as the Macchiaioli. He was initially a painter of historical themes and military subjects. In his middle years, inspired by the Barb ...

, also a painter, who later became the artist's main muse. He moved with her to Rome in 1910, a city in which he initially lived with distrust, but which he soon managed to appreciate. In

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 ...

he was very close to the critic

Emilio Cecchi Emilio Cecchi (14 July 1884 – 5 September 1966) was an Italian literary critic, art critic and screenwriter. One English language source describes him as "an 'official' - although radically anti-academic - intellectual". He was made artistic ...

, who considered him one of the most talented painters of the new century. Armando Spadini was not attracted to the avant-garde and metaphysics, but on the contrary fit into the context of twentieth-century

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...

. After a first exhibition at the Pensionato artistico (1912) he participated in the exhibitions of the Secessione Romana in 1913 and 1915, obtaining the first successes. Recalled to the army, he was reformed in 1917 due to the onset of the first symptoms of chronic nephritis which would cause his premature death. He moved with his wife and children to a small villa in Parioli, at the time on the edge of the Roman countryside, which would become the destination of frequent visits from his literary and artistic friends:

Antonio Baldini Antonio Baldini (10 October 1889 - 6 November 1962) was an Italian journalist, literary critic and writer. Institutions renamed in celebration and commemoration of Baldini include, slightly unusually, a large public library in Rome, the "Bi ...

Vincenzo Cardarelli Vincenzo Cardarelli, pseudonym of Nazareno Caldarelli (1 May 1887 – 18 June 1959) was an Italian poet and journalist. Cardarelli was born in Corneto, Lazio, in a family of Marche origin. His father was Antonio Romagnoli. His studies were irr ...

Giovanni Papini Giovanni Papini (9 January 18818 July 1956) was an Italian journalist, essayist, novelist, short story writer, poet, literary critic, and philosopher. A controversial literary figure of the early and mid-twentieth century, he was the earliest an ...

Giuseppe Ungaretti Giuseppe Ungaretti (; 8 February 1888 – 2 June 1970) was an Italian modernist poet, journalist, essayist, critic, academic, and recipient of the inaugural 1970 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. A leading representative of the experim ...

, Cipriano Efisio Oppo,

Giorgio De Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the '' scuola metafisica'' art movement, which profoundly influ ...

and Amerigo Bartoli. He took part in a few exhibitions between Rome and Florence, and in 1918 his works were displayed at the Italian Art exhibition in Zurich, as well as a solo show dedicated to him at the Casina Valadier. His friendship with Cecchi and Baldini, his frequentation of the cultural environment of the "third room" in the

Caffè Aragno Italians are well known for their special attention to the preparation, the selection of the blends, and the use of accessories when creating many types of coffees. Many of the types of coffee preparation known today also have their roots here ...

helped to bring him closer, in 1919, to the literary magazine "La Ronda". In 1920, thanks to the interest of Ojetti, who dedicated a short monograph to him that year, he won a professorship in Florence, but renounced it in order stay in Rome. The growing interest in his painting relieved him of economic difficulties, while his health conditions began to deteriorate. In 1920 he was appointed Academician of S. Luca and from the following year he was part of the committee for the Roman Biennials (1921-1925). In 1922, presented by Savinio, he exhibited his paintings at the spring Fiorentina with the group of "

Valori Plastici ''Valori plastici'' (meaning ''Plastic Values'' in English) was an Italian magazine published in Rome in Italian and French. The magazines existed between 1918 and 1921. History and profile ''Valori plastici'' was established in Rome by the paint ...

". In 1923 he took part in the exhibition of Italian art in Buenos Aires. In 1924 he had a personal room, with thirty-seven works, at the XIV Venice Biennale, which consecrated him amongst the now established artists, and was present at the "Carnegie Exhibition" in Pittsburgh. He collaborated with the Soffici magazine "Galleria"; Oppo, Baldini, Cecchi and Soffici dedicated a monograph to him. Armando Spadini died in Rome on March 31, 1925. His remains rest in the cemetery of

, in front of his friend Ardengo Soffici, and on his tombstone it is written: «For art he lived, died, will live». The 1931

National Quadrennial of Art National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

in Rome dedicated an entire room to the artist with a large collection of his paintings, made available by his collectors. In his hometown, a street was dedicated to him and one of the

229 busts 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

of illustrious Italians that adorn the

Pincio The Pincian Hill (; it, Pincio ; la, Mons Pincius) is a hill in the northeast quadrant of the historical centre of Rome. The hill lies to the north of the Quirinal, overlooking the Campus Martius. It was outside the original boundaries of th ...

promenade in Rome is dedicated to him.

References

* Antonella Crippa
Armando Spadini
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 (source for the first revision of this article). * M. Fagiolo Dell'Arco, ''Scuola romana: pittura e scultura a Roma dal 1919 al 1943'', Roma, De Luca, 1986 * M. Fagiolo Dell'Arco, Valerio Rivosecchi, Emily Braun, ''Scuola romana. Artisti tra le due guerre'', Milano, Mazzotta, 1988 * ''Scuola romana'', catalogo della mostra, a cura di M.Fagiolo e V.Rivosecchi, con la collaborazione di F.R. Morelli, Milano 1988 * G. Castelfranco, D. Durbe, ''La Scuola romana dal 1930 al 1945'', Roma, De Luca, 1960 * ''Roma sotto le stelle'', catalogo della mostra. Sezione arti visive, a cura di N. Vespignani, M. Fagiolo, V. Rivosecchi, collaborazione I. Montesi, Roma 1994 * Catalogo generale della Galleria comunale d'arte moderna e contemporanea, a cura di G. Bonasegale, Roma 1995

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Spadini, Armando 19th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 20th-century Italian painters 1883 births 1925 deaths 19th-century Italian male artists 20th-century Italian male artists