Norberto biography

- NORBERTO PAINTER

 

Norberto Proietti, better known simply as Norberto, was a famous Italian painter and sculptor born in Spello in 1927.

He is the eldest of five children of a livestock trading broker and a merchant of olives and oil, who also runs a local tavern, an activity in which the mother also participates. In his childhood and adolescence, Norberto shows an early interest in architecture and natural phenomena. The picturesque landscape of Umbria influences his perception of the world and, subsequently, his artistic style.

In 1939, at just 12 years old, he moved to Rome to work with his uncle, who managed a tailor shop in the Trastevere district. Despite some unpleasant human experiences, Norberto continued his journey, driven by his passion for art and desire to grow.

During the Second World War, he is forced to return to Spello, where he begins to observe his land and the people familiar to him with more mature eyes. This period of intense reflection leads him to develop a deep appreciation for Giotto's frescoes in the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, and the Baglioni Chapel in the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Spello, decorated by Pinturicchio.

At the end of the war, Norberto once again follows his uncle, this time to Bergamo, continuing to work as a tailor. However, in 1950, he feels the call of his hometown and decides to open a tailoring workshop in Spello. But the desire to express himself artistically remains strong, and the following year, he paints his first painting.

Starting in 1961, Norberto dedicated himself exclusively to art, exhibiting his works in international exhibitions. But his true consecration took place at the Festival dei Due Mondi di Spoleto between 1967 and 1974. In 1971, thanks to the support of Cesare Zavattini, an influential proponent of Italian naïf art, he was awarded the prestigious Premio Suzzara.

Norberto becomes famous as one of the most appreciated naïve artists, renowned for his depictions of miniature friars against backgrounds of medieval landscapes, often set in a metaphysical and Edenic Umbria, considered by art critic Vittorio Sgarbi as the best of all possible worlds.

In addition to painting, Norberto is known for his sculptures made by modeling olive wood and for the Pellegrino di pace, a artwork in bronze placed in front of the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, dedicated to the patron saint of Italy.

The variety of his subjects is vast: still lifes, nocturnes, Roman countryside, musicians, interiors, wheat, olive trees, fruit, tailoring, Assisi, Venice (Piazza San Marco), Bari (Basilica of San Nicola), female figures. Among his sculptures, those in wood, ceramic, and bronze stand out, depicting figures such as Saint Francis, Pinocchio, and the rhinoceros.

Master Norberto worked tirelessly until the last years of his life. He died in 2009 at the age of 81 and was buried in the cemetery of Spello. As a testament to his artistic and cultural legacy, a museum dedicated to him was inaugurated in his hometown, where it is possible to admire a vast collection of his works.