Biography of Luigi Montanarini
Luigi Montanarini, born on July 22nd 1906 in Florence, studies from 1927 to 1931 under Felice Carena at the Art Academy of his native town. There he meets Heidy Isler from Wohlen/AG (Switzerland). They marry in 1933 and have four children: Silvia, Roberto, Marco and Luca.
In the same year, together with sculptor Pericle Fazzini, he is the winner of the national art contest “Pensionato Artistico” which is why he moves to Rome where he will stay for the rest of his life.
He joins the group of the so-called “Scuola Romana” – among Afro, Cagli, Capogrossi, Fazzini, Mafai, Mirko, Ziveri. Although he is interested in their themes and subject matters, he later abandons the group to find his own artistical language and style and to follow a path that leads him from a provincial “ambiance” to a style of painting which can be described as European.
He exhibits world wide and participates in the most important national and international art events: the international Venice Biennale (in which he takes part seven times and where, in 1958, a whole exhibition room is dedicated to his works) and in the national Quadriennale in Rome (three times, having also his own room in 1956).
As for the art awards he receives, apart from those won at the Biennale and Quadriennale and the above-mentioned “Premio Pensionato”, the most important ones to name are the Michetti price (which he won twice) and the Price of the city of Taranto (won twice as well). His works can be found in Italian and foreign collections, in the art museums of Rome, Milan and Bern as well as in the “Kunsthaus” of the canton of Aargau in Aarau.
Furthermore, he accomplishes several works in public buildings and, especially in the fifties, some very significant works of sacral art in Roman churches as well as in the pilgrimage church of Cascia in the honour of Holy Rita.
Similarly intense was his teaching activity: From 1936 to 1938 he teaches at the Art Institute of Civita Castellana and in 1939 he becomes Director of the School of Arts of Velletri. In the following year he is appointed professor for figurative drawing at the Art Lyceum of Rome and in 1956 ordinary professor for painting at the Art Academy of Rome where he works as its director from 1965. One year later he becomes a member of the High Arts Council of Italy.
After the death of his wife Heidy Isler in 1994 he marries Jorise Tarabella.
Luigi Montanarini dies on January 7th 1998 in Rome.
The Abstract Painting
On 11th September 2010 an exhibition of the works of the painter Luigi Montanarini opened in the basement of the Rösslimatte Community Centre in Wohlen, AG, Switzerland. The exhibition was part of a Circolo A.C.L.I. (Italian and international Christian Workers Movement) cultural and culinary event dedicated to the Latium region of Italy, where Rome is situated.
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