Background
Comensoli was born in Lugano, Switzerland, April 15, 1922. His mother died when Mario Comensoli was a young boy, that's why he was raised by his two sisters, living in extreme poverty.
Pfingstweidstrasse 96, 8005 Zürich, Switzerland
Zurich University of the Arts.
Rämistrasse 101, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
ETH Zurich.
Mario Comensoli with his work.
Mario Comensoli working on his new painting.
Comensoli was born in Lugano, Switzerland, April 15, 1922. His mother died when Mario Comensoli was a young boy, that's why he was raised by his two sisters, living in extreme poverty.
After completing his education at school, Comensoli made a living, selling portraits and landscape paintings to tourists. In 1943 the Municipal Museum of Art in Lugano bought his landscape painting Piccolo Paesaggio. In 1944 Comensoli won a scholarship, which enabled him to attend courses at the Zurich University of the Arts and lectures at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich).
During Mario Comensoli's first stay in Paris, in the early post-war period, the artist was inspired by Picasso and Léger's artworks. Then he became acquainted with the Cubist style in painting. In 1948 he visited Paris for the second time. At that time he met Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, the brothers Alberto and Diego Giacometti.
Living in Zurich with his wife Hélène Frei, he discovered a passion for such popular sports as cycling and football. The artist even created the series titled Cyclists and footballers. In 1953 Mario Comensoli exhibited his works for the first time at the Helmhaus Museum of Zurich, receiving the approval of the critics.
Initially, he focused on formal construction, however, a bit later Comensoli left space for a new kind of painting that mostly highlighted reality and human experiences. In the year 1958 he created the "Workers in Blue" series, working in the Rousseaustrasse studio. It was dedicated to the migrants coming from Italy to whom he felt close. The same year, Carlo Levi offered him to present his artworks at the Congress of Immigrants in Rome. They even used one of the artist's drawings for an exhibition poster.
Soon Mario Comensoli plunged into the themes of the 1968 protests. His painting manner became extremely provocative and was influenced by Pop Art. The last twist in Mario Comensoli's oeuvre came in the early 1980s, when he started to work in cinema. Influenced by alternative punk youths, he started the series Gioventù in fermento (Youth in Turmoil), with Discovirus and Tell being the most important thematic moments. Comensoli's last big exhibition was held in 1989 at the Kunsthaus of Zurich.
Travolta a Zurigo
Der Mittelstürmer
Derrière les coulisses
Quo vadis?
Reise
Disco III
Disco Fever III
Kunsthaus
Morte douce
Die Tänzerin
Il bambino
Entr'acte
Paar
Föhn
Rebellen
Lo schiaffo
Sonntag
Gitter I
Al caffè
Déjeuner dans la forêt
Sprung
La bague
Radfahrer II
Maspalomas
Bananarepublic
Il Lavoro
Mann, der sich die Fussnägel schneidet
Giocatori di calcio del Lugano
Coppia di ballerini di tango
Boy playing on the flute
Studie eines sitzenden Mannes
In 1944 Mario Comensoli met Hélène Frei and later married her in Basel. She died in 1994.