Background
Enrico Castellani was born on August 4, 1930, in Castelmassa commune situated in the Veneto region of Italy. He was a son of an industrial technician.
Enrico Castellani was born on August 4, 1930, in Castelmassa commune situated in the Veneto region of Italy. He was a son of an industrial technician.
Enrico Castellani began his education at the local school of Galliate, not far from Milan, where the family relocated to about 1940s.
Later, he enrolled at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels where he had studied art, sculpture and architecture till 1952.
Then, Castellani pursued his education at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels de la Cambre in Brussels which he graduated from 1956.
Enrico Castellani’s artistic career started in 1956 when he exhibited his artworks at the Galleria Pater in Milan. It was the period when the artist met such avant-gard artists as Piero Manzoni, Lucio Fontana, Vincenzo Agnetti, Agostino Bonalumi and Yves Klein. At the same period, Castellani joined the artistic group called Zero.
Three years later, Castellani produced the series of his first relief work called “Superficie Nera” and along with Piero Manzoni founded the Azimuth Gallery which functioned only eight months. There was also a magazine with the same title in which the artists published essays criticizing the main artistic movements of the time.
In two years, Castellani exhibited at the Galleria dell’Ariete in Milan and at the show with the Zero group at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. In fact, the 1960s were rich for shows, often international, including the Guggenheim International Award in New York, the exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and São Paulo Biennial, all in 1965. In 1964, the artist took part at his first Venice Biennale. This one was followed by the participation at the exhibition two years later, as well as in 1984 and 2003. Four years after his debut Biennale the artist participated at the Documenta exhibition.
In 1987, Castellani had a commission from an Italian collector to produce large-scale installations for his villa and sculpture park.
One of the last projects of the artist became the set decoration for the dance performance at the Scandicci Studio Theatre in 2012.
Enrico Castellani is nowadays regarded as one of the most powerful Italian painters of the second half of the 20th century who had a great contribution to the development of the avant-garde art.
Castellani’s accomplishments were marked by such awards, as Premio Gollin and the prestigious one, Praemium Imperiale.
In the opinion of an American artist Donald Judd, Castellani was a “father of minimalism”.
During his artistic journey, Enrico Castellani exhibited his creations all around the world, for example, at The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia, at Kettle's Yard Gallery in Cambridge, at The Modern and Contemporary Civic Gallery in Latina and at Palazzo Fabroni in Pistoia, Italy.
White Surface
Surface III
White Surface
In Honour of Santomaso
Green Surface
Untitled
White Surface
Blue Surface
Topologema 2-1
Aluminum Surface
Untitled
Similarly
No. 827
White Surface
Composition
Composition
Untitled
Silver Surface
Striped Surface
Red Surface
Red Diptych
Painting 12-58
Extra Flexion
Gray Surface
Blus Surface
Orange Surface
Untitled
Pink Surface
White and Pink Surface
Blue Surface
Enrico Castellani was married to Renata Wirtz. The couple had a son Lorenzo.
The artist had also a daughter Francesca from his early relationship.
