Enrico Accatino (August 20, 1920 – July 16, 2007) was an Italian

abstract painter Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. ''Abstract art'', ''non-figurative art'', ''non-objective art'', and ''non ...

, sculptor, designer, and advocate of a new Italian culture tied to textiles. He was awarded a gold medal by the President of the Italian Republic for "Benemerito della Scuola, della Cultura e dell'Arte".

Early years and education

Enrico Accatino was born in the city of

Genova Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitants ...

in 1920 into a farming family. He studied drawing 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 ...

from 1938 to 1940 with Felice Casorati. Mobilized in the declaration of war, Accatino was assigned to an artillery regiment at Manduria, in southern Italy. At the end of the war, graduated from the Rome Fine Arts Academy, he moved to

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 mixed with artists such as

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

, Severini, Giacometti, and Manessier. He developed a figurative style inspired by social themes, reflecting the influence of his friend

Renato Guttuso Aldo Renato Guttuso (26 December 1911 – 18 January 1987) was an Italian painter and politician. He is considered to be among the most important Italian artists of the 20th century and is among the key figures of Italian expressionism. His art i ...

Life and work

Aniconic paintings and collages were created in the second half of the 1950s, when he started to investigate circularity (circles, disks, ellipses) and Arte Informale style. From 1966 Accatino was intensely dedicated to the re-launching of

textile arts Textile arts are arts and crafts that use fiber crop, plant, Animal fiber, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative Physical object, objects. Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of ...

as language, creating bi- and tri-dimensional solutions such his double faced diaphragm tapestries (plastic elements suspended in space). Accatino's works can be found in the permanent collections of several museums around the world, and during his long and intense artistic career he attained important national and international recognition. He created a prolific amount of graphic work with abstract motifs. From 1960 to 1964 he was responsible for the planning of a new method of teaching art, through hundreds of television transmissions (RAI - Radio Televisione Italiana). He also published important texts on Visual Arts and the History of Art. He died in 2007 in Rome. His works are in museums and private collections including Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna of Rome, Permanent Collection of Modern Art of

Vatican Museums The Vatican Museums (; ) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of the best-known Roman sculptures and ...

, Foundation Simon Wiesenthal of Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Sculpture of Matera.

Bibliography

* Madeileine Jarry. ''La Tapisserie art du XX siecle'', Office du Livre Paris, 1974 * Giorgio di Genova. ''Enrico Accatino - La circolarità dello Spirito'', Istituto Grafico Editoriale - Roma, 1991 * Francesca Franco. ''Enrico Accatino - Dal realimo all'astrazione alla sintesi delle arti'', Introduzione di Giuseppe Appella—De Luca Editore, Roma, 2005

External links

* * http://archivioitaliano.blogspot.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Accatino, Enrico 1920 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 21st-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian sculptors 20th-century Italian male artists Italian male sculptors Royal Italian Army personnel of World War II 21st-century Italian male artists