Luigi Spazzapan

Luigi Spazzapan, "The Bull," tempera on cardboard, first half of the 20th century. Splendid painting by Luigi Spazzapan, one of the most free, independent, and creative protagonists of the 20th-century art scene. Tempera on cardboard depicting a running bull. On the back, signature in the upper left corner. Stamp of the "Vinciana" Art Gallery, Milan. Measurements: Framed H 67.5 x W 87.5 / Cardboard 47 x 66.5 cm Biography Painter, born April 18, 1889, in Gradisca, died February 18, 1958, in Turin. He attended courses at the Royal Schools of Gorizia. He taught drawing at the middle schools of Idria. In 1928, he moved to Turin. He met the painters of the "Six" group and approached the "Selvaggio" group (Mucci, Zeglio, I. Cremona). In 1932, he exhibited in Paris with Menzio, Paulucci, and Levi. In 1939, he held a solo exhibition in Paris at the Galerie Albert. Endowed with a keen drawing instinct and a vibrant sense of colour, he painted, until around 1955, in a nervously abbreviated post-impressionist style, invigorated by a restless expressionist charge, sometimes introducing angular stylizations that reflect his original Cubist and Futurist background. After 1955, his painting took a radical turn towards abstraction and the informal, documented in the posthumous retrospective organized by the Venice Biennale in 1960. Among other exhibitions, S. also participated in the XXV, XXVII, and XXVIII Biennales.