Background
Sanfilippo was born in Partanna, Italy, on December 8, 1923.
1951
Rome, Italy
Antonio Sanfilippo in Rome.
1956
Carla Accardi and Antonio Sanfilippo in Rome.
Via Ricasoli, 66, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy
Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.
Via Papireto, 22, 90134 Palermo PA, Italy
Academy of Fine Arts of Palermo.
Antonio Sanfilippo with his works.
Forma Group 1.
Sanfilippo was born in Partanna, Italy, on December 8, 1923.
Sanfilippo completed his training at the Palermo School of Art, where he was a pupil of Michele Dixitdomino and Guido Ballo. Then he attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, studying under the guidance of Felice Carena, and the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo, being a pupil of Giovanni Rosone.
Since 1946 Sanfilippo resided in Rome. In 1947, together with his friends Carla Accardi, Ugo Attardi, Pietro Consagra, Piero Dorazio, Mino Guerrini, Achille Perilli, and Giulio Turcato, Antonio Sanfilippo became a co-founder of the Forma 1 art movement. The supporters of the group adhered to abstractionism. The theoretical basis of the group was to be found in the lessons Ripellino devoted to Russian Formalism.
In 1948 Antonio Sanfilippo held an exhibition at the Venice Biennale where he had other shows in the years 1954, 1964, and 1966. From the early 1950s, he had one-man exhibits in such avant-garde galleries as the Age d’Or and Schneider in Rome, the Cavallino in Venice and the Canal in Milan. In the mid-1950s, Sanfilippo started to exhibit abroad in Lausanne, New York, Brussels, Osaka, Pittsburgh, London.
In 1951, he participated in the exhibition Abstract and Concrete Art at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome. In 1953 he got interested in the value of marks. This led to the creation of a highly personal language which consisted of marks freely scattered over the picture surface. Until 1963 Antonio Sanfilippo's artworks were mostly monochrome, but after that year he started to add more colour in his paintings.
Michel Tapié organized his solo show in the Galleria d'Arte Selecta, Rome, in 1958. Sanfilippo's connection with the Roman art world soon provided him contact with the New York scene as well as the European avant-gardes. In 1958 he participated in the show Nuove tendenze dell'arte italiana, held in the Roman venue of the Rome-New York Art Foundation.
Antonio Sanfilippo also participated in the show dedicated to the bicentenary of the Pittsburgh Carnegie Institute. He received international recognition in the next few years. In 1961 Sanfilippo took part in a show of Italian art in the Kamakura Museum of Modern Art, and then in an exhibit of the Dana Collection in the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. During the following decade, his interest in graphics increased and, between 1972 and 1979 he created numerous drawings in ink, pen, and pencil.
His works are to be found in public collections in Florence, Rome, and Turin, to mention just a few, as well as in many Italian and foreign private collections.
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Metropoli
Manoscritti
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Composizione
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Nero e Rosso (Schermo astratto 28/55)
Mondo e uomo
Estensione blu-grigio
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Rete complicata
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Senza titolo (senza titolo 39/59)
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Composizione
Arancione
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Senza muoversi
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Nero e bianco
Numerosi Spazi 1
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