Background
Antonio Donghi was born on March 16, 1897 in Rome, Italy.
Antonio Donghi was born on March 16, 1897 in Rome, Italy.
Antonio Donghi studied painting at the Instituto di Belle Arti from 1908 to 1916. After military service in World War I he studied art in Florence and Venice, soon establishing himself as one of Italy's leading figures in the neoclassical movement that arose in the 1920s.
Antonio's figures in paintings possess a gravity and an archaic stiffness reminiscent of Piero della Francesca. Critics likened his work to that of Henri Rousseau and Georges Seurat, whose scenes of contemporary life are similarly touched with subtle humor. His still lifes often consist of a small vase of flowers, depicted with the disarming symmetry of naive art.
By the 1940s, Donghi's work was far outside the mainstream of modernism, and his reputation declined, although he continued to exhibit regularly. In his last years, he concentrated mainly on landscapes, painted in a style that emphasizes linear patterns. He died in Rome in 1963.
Carnevale
1923La canzonettista
1925Juggler
1926The Bride
1926Circus
1927Portrait of Maria Pia
1929Before the Singing
1930Donna al caffè
1931Portrait of a Woman in Hat
1931Canzone
1934L’altalena
1941Self-Portrait
1942Baptizing
Il giocoliere
Laundresses
Bather
Due canarini in gabia
Nu
The fourth element - Fire
The Hunter
Untitled
Woman making herself up