Engraving made by the artist Alfredo Volpi, signed, PA copy
Size: 48 x 66 cm
About the artist:
Alfredo Volpi (Lucca, April 14, 1896 - São Paulo, May 28, 1988) was an Italian-Brazilian painter considered by critics as one of the most important artists of the second generation of modernism. One of the characteristics of his works are the little flags and the houses.
He began to paint in 1911, executing decorative murals. He then worked with oil on wood, establishing himself as a master user of tempera on canvas.
A great colorist, he explored magnificent compositions of great visual impact through forms. Together with Arcangelo Ianelli and Aldir Mendes de Souza, he formed a triad of distinguished colorists, the focus of a book called 3 Colorists, written by Alberto Beuttenmüller (IOB Publisher, July 1989).
He also worked as a painter and decorator in residences of the São Paulo society at the time, carrying out artistic decoration work on walls and murals together with Antonio Ponce Paz, a Spanish painter and sculptor who soon became a great friend of Volpi.
He held his first individual exhibition at the age of 47, exhibiting at the Salão de Maio and at the 1st. Exhibition of the Paulista Artistic Family, in 1938 in the city of São Paulo.
In the 1950s, it evolved towards geometric abstractionism, as exemplified by the series of flags and masts for June festivals. He received the award for best national painter at the second São Paulo Biennial, in 1953. He participated in the first Concrete Art Exhibition, joining the Santa Helena Group, but he always went to visit his friends who officially participated, such as Mario Zanini and Francisco Rebolo, located in Praça da Sé, in São Paulo. The following painters were part of the Santa Helena Group: Aldo Bonadei, Clóvis Graciano, Fúlvio Penacchi and Ernesto de Fiori, who had a great influence on Volpi's work.
In 1927, Volpi met his great love, a person with whom he became very attached. A waitress called Benedita da Conceição, nicknamed Judith, with whom he had one daughter, Eugênia. It is almost certain that Judith was his model for Mulata (1927). Volpi had three other children, and there was a dispute between the heirs, including the removal of Eugênia from the role of executor, as she managed the estate as if she were the only heiress.
On April 15, 1976, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, he was awarded the Order of Ipiranga, in the rank of Grand Officer, by the Government of the State of São Paulo.
On April 14, 2013, Volpi was honored with a doodle on the homepage of Google Brazil.