Ezio Gribaudo biography

- EZIO GRIBAUDO PAINTER

 

Ezio Gribaudo was an eclectic and multifaceted Italian artist, as well as a renowned art publisher. Born in Turin in 1929, he trained at the Brera Academy and later at the Faculty of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Turin.

From the beginning of his career, Ezio Gribaudo had the opportunity to collaborate with some of the most important figures in modern and contemporary art, including Chagall, de Chirico, Fontana, Peggy Guggenheim, Miró, and Moore.

His artistic and professional journey develops in parallel with his work as an art publisher. Ezio Gribaudo brings together a select group of renowned artists and develops editorial ideas of great impact, which in turn influence his own artistic production. He collaborates with important publishing houses such as Fratelli Pozzo, Fabbri Editori, Garzanti, Einaudi, and UTET, creating volumes of great value. One of his most significant projects was the direction of the Grandi Monografie Fabbri Editori, publishing thirty-four artists, including Bacon, Botero, Burri, Duchamp, Guttuso, Manzù and Savinio.

In addition to his work as a publisher, Ezio Gribaudo also stands out as a promoter of significant cultural events in the field of visual arts. In 1976, he organized an exhibition of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection at the Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna in Turin, and in 1978, he curated the "Coucou Bazar" exhibition-show for Jean Dubuffet at the Promotrice delle Belle Arti, an event organized on behalf of FIAT.

Ezio Gribaudo's artistic production encompasses various media and techniques, ranging from graphics to sculpture and painting. Initially, he dedicated himself to the creation of flani and logogrifi, using typographic tools and journalistic production scraps. The logogrifi, typographic impressions made without the use of ink, became his main expressive medium and earned him the graphics award at the XXXIII Venice Biennale in 1966.

Subsequently, he expanded his pictorial interests to include multiple materials and techniques, creating works ranging from white monochromatism to pieces made using the collage technique. His artistic production is characterized by a careful relationship between text and image, with the use of literary and journalistic texts treated as works of art.

The works of Ezio Gribaudo have been exhibited in major museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and Ca' Pesaro in Venice, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and many others. In Italy, his works are present in museums such as the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome, the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti and the Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento Italiano in Turin, the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Spoleto, and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Catania.

Ezio Gribaudo has received numerous accolades throughout his career, including the Premio Pannunzio in 2003, the Premio Tigullio in 2009, and the IIC (Italian Cultural Institute) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. He was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit for Culture and served as President of the Accademia Albertina in Turin from 2003 to 2005, later remaining as honorary president. His artistic and editorial legacy remains a significant contribution to the world of art and culture. Ezio Gribaudo has left an indelible mark in the field of contemporary art, thanks to his extraordinary ability to combine art publishing with personal artistic expression, creating a unique and unmistakable visual language.