Romeo Mancini
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Romeo Mancini (Perugia, 28 May 1917 – 19 March 2003) was an Italian painter and sculptor.


Early life

Before the outbreak of the Second World War, Mancini attended the
Accademia di Belle Arti di Perugia The Accademia di Belle Arti di Perugia ("Academy of Fine Arts of Perugia") is a private tertiary academy of art in Perugia, in Umbria in central Italy. It is not one of the 20 official Italian state academies of fine art, but is legally recognis ...
, where he met future artist
Leoncillo Leonardi Leoncillo Leonardi (18 November 1915 – 3 September 1968), commonly known as Leoncillo, was an Italian sculptor who worked principally in glazed ceramics, often large-scale, and often using vivid colours. Until the mid-1950s his work was mostl ...
, who later wrote: "''We talked down our professors passionately… and our friendship dates back to that. The years have passed… (and) Mancini has continued to fight against a narrow figurative culture, to criticise and to seek''"... During the early 1930s Mancini appeared to be seeking examples to follow in the nearby
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 ...
.C. Zappia, Romeo Mancini, 1989, Electa Editori Umbri Associati, translated into English by Liam Boyle Leonardi and Mancini both had an aversion to fascism and both later joined the partisans: Leonardi in Rome, and Mancini in Umbria, in the Colfiorito mountains, where he joined the Innamorati Brigade with Enzo Rossi. When the war ended, Mancini returned to Perugia. The early works of
Giuseppe Capogrossi Giuseppe Capogrossi (7 March 1900 – 9 October 1972) was an Italian painter. Biography Capogrossi was born in Rome. After obtaining a degree in law in 1923–1924, he decided to study painting with Felice Carena at Accademia di Belle Arti di R ...
and
Mario Mafai Mario Mafai (12 February 1902 – 31 March 1965) was an Italian painter. With his wife Antonietta Raphaël he founded the modern art movement called the Scuola Romana, or Roman school. Biography Mafai left school very early, preferring to atte ...
appear to have been his points of reference for the ''Autoritratto'' (''lit''. Self-portrait) dated 1943, followed by
Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...
in such works as the ''Gilet Rosso'' (''lit.'' The Red Waistcoat). In 1948, his sketch presented as part of the competition organized by the Sagra Musicale Umbra, along with three other contenders, was chosen as the official poster for the music festival that year. In the same period, Mancini obtained a notable commission: a fresco to be painted using the technique of the ancient masters, “on fresh plaster, using first a cartoon and then pouncing”, in Luisa Spagnoli's former headquarters. After that, he travelled to Paris. Mancini left Perugia taking with him some photos of his recent works. While in France he immediately came into contact. with Édouard Pignon, heir to the tradition of Cézanne and Picasso.


Villa Massimo

When he came back to Italy, Mancini decided to leave Perugia that not only Leoncillo, Rossi and Brunori, had also done. He chose to follow his group of friends and colleagues to
Villa Massimo Villa Massimo, short for Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo ( it, Accademia Tedesca Roma Villa Massimo), is a German cultural institution in Rome, established in 1910 and located in the Villa Massimo. The fellowship of the German Academy in Rom ...
in Rome. Here, from 1948, a small group of left-wing Italian painters and sculptors had settled and arranged their own home-atelier in the building that had hosted the German Academy in Rome before the war. Mancini had his first exhibition in Rome at Lo Zodiaco Gallery in 1950. He exhibited about twenty paintings at Lo Zodiaco. The exhibition also included the ''Minatore'' (''lit.'' The Miner), that the following year the painter also sent to the “Premi per la Pace” (''lit.'' Peace Prize) contest organized by the “Rinascita” and “Vie Nuove” magazines. The panel was composed of the communist editors of the magazines that promoted the event,
Palmiro Togliatti Palmiro Michele Nicola Togliatti (; 26 March 1893 – 21 August 1964) was an Italian politician and leader of the Italian Communist Party from 1927 until his death. He was nicknamed ("The Best") by his supporters. In 1930 he became a citizen of ...
and
Luigi Longo Luigi Longo (15 March 1900 – 16 October 1980), also known as Gallo, was an Italian communist politician and secretary of the Italian Communist Party from 1964 to 1972. He was also the first foreigner to be awarded an Order of Lenin. Early l ...
, and
Pietro Nenni Pietro Sandro Nenni (; 9 February 1891 – 1 January 1980) was an Italian socialist politician, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and senator for life since 1970. He was a recipient of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1951. He w ...
, the President of the
National Liberation Committee The National Liberation Committee ( it, Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, CLN) was a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian resistance movement fighting against Nazi Germany’s forces during the German occup ...
representing the partisans, and technicians,
Giulio Carlo Argan Giulio Carlo Argan (17 May 1909 – 12 November 1992) was an Italian art historian, critic and politician. Biography Argan was born in Turin and studied in the University of Turin, graduating in 1931. In 1928 he entered the National Fascist Part ...
,
Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli (19 February 1900 – 17 January 1975) was an Italian archaeologist and art historian. Biography Bianchi Bandinelli was born in Siena to Mario Bianchi Bandinelli (1859–1930) and Margherita Ottilie "Lily" von Kor ...
,
Roberto Longhi Roberto Longhi (28 December 1890 – 3 June 1970) was an Italian academic, art historian, and curator. The main subjects of his studies were the painters Caravaggio and Piero della Francesca. Early life and career Longhi was born in December 189 ...
, Libero De Libero, and Mario Penelope. The jury appreciated Mancini's work, but were opposed by Togliatti, who was known to caution artists against supporting neo-cubist ideas from the pages of “Rinascita”. In 1950 the
Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...
invited a group of ten young left-wing artists to the Comacchio valleys, which at the time was one of the most deprived areas in the country. Romeo participated, together with Treccani, Turcato, Scarpitta, and the Neapolitan artist Ricci. The resulting works were exhibited during the Sagra della Fioritura Festival in Vignola, where a jury which included Mazzacurati awarded Mancini with the third prize, consisting of a wheel of Grana Padano cheese. Back in his atelier in Villa Massimo, Romeo re-elaborated the sketches made in Comacchio, and transformed them into large oil compositions. Of this group of works, the artist kept two temperas, ''Pescatori in riposo'' (''lit.'' Fishermen at Rest) and ''Gioco della morra'' (''lit.'' Game of Morra). These two fishermen are the predecessors of the two robots placed side by side that the artist calls ''Cattedrali'' (''lit.'' Cathedrals). The 1950s were the central years of Romeo's activity, including abroad. In 1953 he participated in the International Youth Festival in Warsaw with his work the ''Fiocinatore'' (''lit.'' Harpooner) which earned him the second prize. In 1951 ''Minatori'' was the painting chosen by Mancini to participate in the VI Rome Quadriennale . In November 1956 Romeo was invited at the XXVIII edition of the Venice Biennale. Here Mancini was presented with two ceramic high reliefs: ''Fiocinatori'' (''lit.'' Harpooners) ''n. 2'' and ''Fiocinatori n. 3'', both created in 1956 and exhibited in Venice in a pavilion designed by
Carlo Scarpa Carlo Scarpa (2 June 1906 – 28 November 1978) was an Italian architect, influenced by the materials, landscape and the history of Venetian culture, and by Japan. Scarpa translated his interests in history, regionalism, invention, and the te ...
. In 1956, partially as a result of a smear campaign led by the German press against the artists of Villa Massimo, along with their way of life, the government of that country was able to evict the Italians and reorganize the academy within the villa. Mancini was already no longer living there permanently, due to the many commissions he received in Umbria.


The Fishermen

Mancini married in 1956 with Franca Ottalevi and moved back to Perugia. In 1957, Mancini became professor of sculpture at the local Academy of Fine Arts, a position he would hold for more than twenty years. In 1973 Professor Mancini was also appointed director, which saw him undertake the revision of the nineteenth century statute of the Perugia Academy, creating new courses and reorganizing, with the help of the conservator Pietro Scarpellini, the drawings and prints still preserved at the Pietro Vannucci Academy. Returning then to Perugia in the mid 1950s, Mancini again began to frequent the studio in Via Baldeschi that he had shared with his brother the conservator, before his time in Rome. He remained there preparing the sketches for the monuments to those who died in the war, and also returned to his paintings of fishermen, some Cubist, some realistic. Mancini, however, did not break off all contacts with Rome, organizing regular exhibitions in the capital. In the spring of 1958 he organized a personal exhibition at the Galleria La Salita. In Umbria, where Mancini now resided, in 1959 he participated, resulting in significant recognition, in the first edition of the "Premio Perugia" (''lit.'' Perugia Prize). In 1961 Romeo presented himself to the public in Perugia with twenty-seven recent paintings, exhibited between March and April in the Palazzo dei Priori. In 1963 Romero organized personal exhibitions in several U.S. states (Michigan, Indiana, Ohio). Mancini supervised the scenery for The Firebird by Stravinsky at the Teatro Morlacchi in Perugia. The artist found inspiration for this work in the painting ''Antibes'' from the 1950s. In 1966 Romeo was also invited to exhibit at the IX Quadriennale, where he presented two works on his usual theme of fishermen, called ''Tempi del'' ''lavoratore del mare'' (''lit.'' Temples of the Workers of the Sea) and II.


Monuments

Many monuments were commissioned to Mancini in the late 1940s and early 1950s by the municipalities of Umbria. The municipality of Pietralunga commissioned a plastic and dense bronze monument with figures to commemorate their dead (1948). Here the artist seems to have been heavily influenced by Mazzacurati, following the outline already established in 1942 with ''la Strage degli innocenti (lit''. the Slaughter of the Innocents'')'', which he would continue to repeat during the same period. A reminder of Cubism emerges again in the large ''Monumento ai Caduti di tutte le guerre'' ''(lit.'' Monument to the Fallen of All Wars'')''1956, in Passignano, Perugia, which consists of a colourful ceramic frieze, mounted in a grey stone frame. The study and construction of this monument took Mancini at least two years of work. A group of studies for the various component parts was presented at the Brufani exhibition in Perugia of 1953. Castiglione del Lago also wanted a monument to their dead, and Romeo created a large composition in bronze bas-relief in which, on a barely sketched background of the city, there stands a turreted figure of Italy, that observes the scene of a mother bent over the body of her son, who has died for his country. The sculpture, cast in Verona, was inaugurated with a solemn ceremony in November 1956, by which time Romeo was already officially and internationally recognized as a sculptor, presenting himself as such at the XXVIII edition of the
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
. In 1958 he realized the monument to the Partisan of Montebuono, Agello, Perugia. In 1961, when he was asked to create a visualization of Perugia for the great exhibition in Turin, “Italia '61”. The work modelled in ceramic with an operation of synthesis and abstraction, recalls, thanks to the precious material, the golden glow of ancient sun baked Etruscan stones and, through synthetic and sharp forms, suggests the idea of the urban development of the medieval city. The sculpture was prepared by Mancini for the stand designed by the architects representing Umbria, Astengo, Zanetti and Campus, at of the great Turin exhibition. In 1962 he realized the sculpture Dedicata al lavoratore (''lit.'' Dedicated to the Worker), executed for the fountain in Piazza d'Anni at S. Giuliana in Perugia. In 1967 he created the great ''Scultura in acciaio'' (''lit.'' Steel Sculpture) for Città della Pieve and the ''Aerei'' (''lit.'' Aircraft), also in steel, to commemorate the dead in Passignano, on lake Trasimeno. In the same year, the sculpture ''Icone 67'' was sent to Alexandria in Egypt. The Venice Biennale had organized an exhibition of twelve artists in the city, and Mancini, on the recommendation of Valentino Martinelli, was invited to exhibit two sculptures and two paintings. At this time, the artist designed abstract works, clearly destined to live in the open air, in the interplay of natural light and his figures of fishermen or workers. In 1984 Mancini produced works such as the sculpture in memory of ''Capitini'' one dedicated to the ''Fanciullo'' (''lit.'' Young Man), and another dedicated to the ''(Ai Democratici Umbri Vittime dello squadrismo fascista 1921-1922'' (''lit.'' Victims of the fascist squads), all in Perugia.


The Cathedrals

In 1968, Mancini created the first prototypes of the ''Cattedrali per la conquista dello spazio'' (''lit.'' Cathedrals for the Conquest of Space) that predated his entire output from that point onward date back to this time. The use of metallic materials, visits to foundries, the idea that the world is now irrevocably reduced to a giant Meccano set, led Mancini to create a series of large paintings testing himself with a material that was new to him: acrylic. The smooth, cold surface created by this paint composes and decomposes itself, creating a split, sections of mysterious mechanical objects. Mancini built new bodies mounted with machine parts that he called ''Cattedrali'' (''lit.'' Cathedrals), but these pieces of machinery, these ''Cattedrali'' in the end always recalled the shape of the human body, or rather of two opposing human bodies. ''Cattedrali'' “in the desert, factories, as places where they concentrate all social value, collectives of positivity and human duration”. 1972 saw a major retrospective at the town hall in Perugia, which featured, as well as older works, a series of more recent sculptures. In 1976, again at the Palazzo dei Priori municipal building in Perugia, Mancini presented the great ''Cattedrali'' in acrylic to the public. This series culminated in 1984 with an exhibition at the Rocca Paolina in Perugia.


Artworks in Museums, Public and Private institutions

National Gallery of Umbria, Perugia, Sculpture dedicated to Aldo Capitini, 1982 Rome, House of Representative, Montecitorio Palace,
Two fishermen with lights
' (''Due pescatori con lampare'') oil on canvas, 1964 Spain, Flix, Monument to the International Brigades, 1990, iron,
Slovak National Gallery The Slovak National Gallery ( sk, Slovenská národná galéria, abbreviated SNG) is a network of galleries in Slovakia. It has its headquarters in Bratislava. The gallery was established by law on 29 July 1949. In Bratislava, it has its display ...
, Bratislava, ''Fishermen'', oil on canvas 1965, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus Ohio,'' Two fishermen'', ink and tempera on paper, 1964, Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Republic of San Marino, ''Night fishing'', oil on canvas, 1956 Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Republic of San Marino, Composizione without title, acrylic on canvas, 1976 Office of the Umbria Region, Perugia, ''Night Fisherman'', oil on canvas, during '60s Office of Province of Perugia, ''Apocalypse'', oil on canvas 1964 Museum of Modern Art of Perugia, Palazzo della Penna, ''Oxen'', oil on canvas 1952 Collections of the Townhall of Perugia, ''Il Picconiere'', oil on canvas, 1950 National Museum, Collezione Salce Complesso di San Gaetano, Treviso, Manifesto della Sagra Musicale Umbra, 1948, Museum of Ceramic, Deruta (Perugia), sculpture in ceramic, 1963 and a plastic relief representing Perugia for "Italia '61 a Torino", 1961, ceramic. Fondation of Contemporary Ceramic Alviero Moretti, Deruta, Perugia, ceramics National Gallery of Umbria, Perugia, Composition of figures (without title), oil on plywood, between 1950 and 1960 Rocca Paolina, Perugia, ''Monument dedicated to the Victims of the fascist squad'' (''Ai Democratici Umbri Vittime dello squadrismo fascista 1921-1922''), 1984, bronze Area of Santa Giuliana, Perugia, Fountain dedicated to the worker, 1962C.Zappia, Romeo Mancini, Editori Umbri Associati, 1989 Perugia, Via Cortonese (before it was in Piazza Partigiani), Sculpture dedicated to childhood, 1980, steel Pietralunga, Perugia, Monument to the fallen, 1948, travertino stone e bronzeC.Zappia, Romeo Mancini, 1989 Passignano, Perugia, Monument to the fallen of all wars, 1955–56, stone and polychrome ceramic Castiglione del lago, Perugia, Monumento to the fallen of all wars, 1956, bronze and stone Montebuono, Perugia, Monument to the Partisan, 1958, stone Agello, Perugia, Monumento ai Caduti Partigiani di Agello, 1958, steel Passignano sul Trasimeno, Perugia, Sculpture Institute Dalmazio Birago, 1964-66 c. Bova Marina (Reggio Calabria), metal sculpture, 1965 Città della Pieve, Perugia, steel sculpture, 1967, destroyed. Passignano sul Trasimeno, Perugia, Monument to the Aviators fallen in the Trasimeno lake, 1967, steel Pozzuolo, Perugia, School Gino Galeotti, (Cathedrals), ''Cattedrali per la conquista dello spazio'' 1968, ceramic Umbertide, Perugia, steel sculpture, 1970, acciaio. Mugnano, Perugia, Monument to the work, 1986, bronze Mugnano, Perugia, ''Elementi nell'artigianato'', 1987 Castiglione del Lago, Perugia, Monument to Life, 1989, bronze Foligno, Palio per la Giostra della Quintana, cm 200 x 104, 1990 Rome, Collection CGIL, ''Minatori del Bastardo'', (Miners) 1950, oil on canvas, cm 100 x 70 Rome, Collection CGIL, Fisherman, (without title) 1951, oil on masonite, cm 70,4 x 50 Perugia, Unicredit Bank, ''Onda Rossa'' (Red wave) 1974, oil on canvas, cm 149 x 129C. Zappia, Romeo Mancini, Electa/Editori Umbri Associati, 1989 Perugia, Corso Vannucci, ex Olivetti office, painting on wall not visible since it has been covered, ''Operaie'', 1950 Perugia, Società del Mutuo Soccorso fra gli artisti e gli operai di Perugia, in Corso Garibaldi, Bas-relief dedicated to Guglielmo Miliocchi, 1987 Perugia, Manifesto per UmbriaJazz, 1990


References


External links


romeo mancini
shows pictures of his artworks. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mancini, Romeo 1917 births People from Perugia 2003 deaths