Corrado Cagli (1910–1976) was an Italian

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

heritage, who lived in the United States during

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 ...

. Cagli was born in

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

but he moved with his family to Rome in 1915 at the age of five. In 1927, he made his artistic debut, with a mural painted on a building in Via Sistina. The following year, he made another mural painting in a hall in Via Vantaggio. In 1932, he held his first personal exhibition at the Gallery of Art of Rome. Together with other artists such as Giuseppe Capogrossi and

Emanuele Cavalli Emanuele Cavalli (1904–1981) was an Italian painter belonging to the modern movement of the Scuola Romana (Roman School). He was also a renowned photographer, who experimented with new techniques since the 1930s. Biography The son of Apulian la ...

, he formed the group "New Roman School of Painting," better known as ''

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 192 ...

''. In 1937 and 1938, he exhibited works at the "Comet" gallery in New York City. In 1938, when

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

stepped up the persecution of Jews, Cagli fled to Paris and later went to New York where he became a U.S. citizen. He enlisted in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

and was involved in the 1944

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

, and fought in Belgium and Germany. He was with the forces that liberated the

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

, and made a series of dramatic drawings on that subject. In 1948, Cagli returned to Rome to take up permanent residence there. From that time forward, he experimented in various abstract and non-figurative techniques (neo-

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of h ...

, neo-

cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

, informal). He was awarded the Guggenheim prize (1946) and the

Marzotto The Marzotto Group is an Italian textile manufacturer, based in Valdagno. Created in 1836 as the ''Lanificio Luigi Marzotto & Figli''. In 2005 Marzotto Group's textile business separated from Valentino Fashion Group. The Group manufactures woo ...

prize (1954). Cagli died in Rome in 1976.

External links

Cagli's work for the 1972 Banner
of Siena's annual Palio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cagli, Corrado 1910 births 1976 deaths Painters from Rome 20th-century American painters American male painters American gay artists 20th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Jewish painters 20th-century Italian Jews Italian contemporary artists Italian expatriates in the United States 20th-century American male artists 20th-century Italian male artists Italian LGBTQ painters Gay Jews American LGBTQ painters

See also

External links