Olga Biglieri Scurto, known under the pseudonym Barbara (15 March 1915 – 10 January 2002), was an Italian

Futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futures studies or futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities ...

painter and aviator. She was one of three women involved with the movement and in particular with

Aeropittura Aeropittura (''Aeropainting'') was a major expression of the second generation of Italian Futurism, from 1929 through the early 1940s. The technology and excitement of flight, directly experienced by most aeropainters,

. (The others being Marisa Mori and

Benedetta Cappa Benedetta Cappa (14 August 1897 – 15 May 1977) was an Italian futurist artist who has had retrospectives at the Walker Art Center and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Her work fits within the second phase of Italian Futurism. Biography Be ...

Life

Biglieri was born in

Mortara, Lombardy Mortara () is a (municipality) in the province of Pavia, in the Italian region of Lombardy. It lies between the Agogna and Terdoppio rivers, in the historical district known as Lomellina, a rice-growing agricultural center. It received the hon ...

on 15 March 1915. She grew up in the countryside around

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

, where her father owned a farm. She started to paint at the age of eleven and also trained to be a pilot. After learning how to glide, she took a proper pilot license at the Aeroclub di Cameri at only 16 of ages. Biglieri became associated with

Futurism Futurism ( ) was an Art movement, 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 such as the ...

when

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye de ...

, who was the movement's founder, saw her paintings by chance in a shop window."Barbara (Olga Biglieri)
150anni.it, Retrieved 31 January 2017 Biglieri chose to work under the name of ''Barbara'' and to combine her two passions by including images of planes in her

paintings. Her 1939 painting ''Aeropittura di città'' was included in the 22nd

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 (), ...

. That painting's main subject is a plane but her composition fades into two dimensional shapes.Furiste: Women in Art and Literature
Giancarlo Carpi, Casa Italiana Zerilli – Marimò, New York, 2009, Retrieved 21 January 2017 Her paintings are of significance as they are a testimony of how female aeropainters found a place in the classic man/machine futurist image, and to create the parallel concept of "superdonna" or woman/machine. In 1939 she married the poet and writer Ignazio Scurto. When Scurto was drafted in 1943, Biglieri had to care for their children during the Second World War. Her husband died in 1954. Following a long period of pause, where she retired in

Val d'Ossola The Ossola (; ), also Valle Ossola or Val d'Ossola (; ), is an area of Northwest Italy situated to the north of Lago Maggiore. It lies within the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola. Its principal river is the Toce, and its most important town Do ...

to write children's books, Biglieri worked as a fashion journalist. In the early 1960s she hosted a popular radio show on

Rai Radio 1 Rai Radio 1 (''Radio Uno'') is an Italian radio channel operated by the state-owned public-broadcasting organisation RAI and specialising in news, sports, talk programmes, and popular music. History The channel is the direct descendant of th ...

, ''Stella Polare'', where she gave fashion tips. Biglieri's interest in art was rekindled by a meeting with Swedish artist Gosta Liljestrom in 1964. In 1986 her sculpture ''Peace Tree'' was permanently installed in the garden of the

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is a museum located in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in central Hiroshima, Japan, dedicated to documenting the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in World War II. The museum was established in August 1955 with the ...

. In 1998 she was the subject of an autobiography written by Francesca Brezzi, ''Quando il futurismo è donna: Barbara dei colori''. Biglieri died in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 2002.

Legacy

In 2009 one of her works was included in an exhibition in at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. In 2015

named a street after her.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbara 1915 births 2002 deaths 20th-century Italian painters People from the Province of Pavia Painters from Lombardy Italian Futurist painters Futurist painters Italian aviators Fashion journalists 20th-century Italian women painters