ALBERTO BURRI (1915 – 1995)
ARTISTS
Alberto Burri was a pioneering Italian painter and one of the most influential figures in postwar art. Trained as a physician, he served as a medical officer during World War II and was taken prisoner in Tunisia in 1943. While interned in a POW camp in Hereford, Texas, Burri began to paint—a turning point that led him to abandon medicine upon his return to Italy in 1946. Settling in Rome, he held his first solo exhibitions at Galleria La Margherita in 1947–48. In 1951 he co-founded the Origine group with Mario Ballocco, Giuseppe Capogrossi, and Ettore Colla, and soon after presented early series such as the Neri and Muffe. During the 1950s he developed his celebrated Sacchi (Burlap Bags), which brought him international recognition and led to major exhibitions across Europe and the United States.
Between the late 1950s and 1960s Burri produced groundbreaking cycles including the Legni (Woods), Combustioni (Burnt Plastics and Woods), Ferri (Irons), and later the Plastiche. His work was the subject of important retrospectives in Darmstadt, Rotterdam, London, and Paris between 1967 and 1972. From the 1970s onward, Burri explored increasingly monumental forms, creating the Cretti — large cracked surfaces of soil and glue — and the Cellotex works, as well as ambitious cyclical projects characterized by a rigorous, almost architectural structure.
Celebrated worldwide, Burri received numerous awards, and his works are housed in many of the world’s most prestigious museums and collections.