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Born as Afro Basaldella in Udine in 1912 and Afro is one of the most important
Abstract painters of Italy.
Afro first studied at art schools in Venice and Florence. In 1931 he received
his 'Matruità artistica'.
His first solo exhibition took place at the 'del Milione' gallery in Milan in
1932. From 1935/36 he regularly participated at the Quadriennale in Rome and the
Venice Biennale.
Up to 1939 he primarily painted murals for public and private buildings in
Udine, Rhodos, Peschiera and Rome. In 1938 Afro settled in Rome.
From 1941 to 1944 Afro held the chair for mosaic painting in Venice. He was
active in the Resistence.
In 1950 Afro showed his works in New York for the first time. Inspired by
Arshile Gorky's art, he developed his own unmistakable style during a prolonged
sojourn in the US. Having stayed away from the programmatic art groups in Italy
before, Afro joined Moreni and the early members of the 'Fronte nuovo delle Arti',
Corpora, Morlotti, Birolli, Santomaso, Turcato and Vedova to form the 'Gruppo degli
Otto' two years later. In 1957/58 Afro was appointed a post at Mills College,
Oakland, California. During this time Afro created a large mural for the UNESCO
building in Paris. In the following years he mainly worked in Italy. Afro also
frequently travelled to the USA.
In 1971 ill health forced him to give up a teaching position, he had accepted at
the ABA Florence in 1968.
From 1970 Afro worked intensively in the print genre. In 1973/74 after very
creative period Afro fell seriously ill again. In 1976 the artist died in Zurich.
Afro's works received numerous awards.
His works underwent many stylistic developments: His early works of the 1930s
were rooted in the Venetian tradition.
From 1937, however, he began to discover Cubism. In the 1940s influences from
the Roman school as well as Expressionist and Cubist elements came into play.
In 1946/47 he was in a crisis and created hardly any pictures. Afterwards Afro
reached an abstraction based on analytical and synthetic Cubism. Only his encounter
with the Abstract Expressionist Gorky in the USA led Afro to find his mature style,
which assigned fundamental significance to light and color.
His late œuvre is on the one hand marked by increasing harmony and tranquility
and on the other hand by the consolidation of form and subtle refinement of
handling.
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Afro
Basaldella - Generator - Biography
