Pippo Oriani biography

Giuseppe Oriani, known as Pippo Oriani, was born in Turin on 25 June 1909. Raised in a family of building contractors, he showed a strong interest in drawing and art from a young age. After undertaking architectural studies at the Higher School of Architecture, Oriani approached pictorial research. In 1928, he joined the Turin futurist group led by Enrico Prampolini, marking the beginning of his artistic career.
Oriani officially debuts in the art world by exhibiting two uncatalogued paintings at the Parco del Valentino in Turin, invited by Prampolini. This event marks his entry into the Futurist movement, and from then on he participates in all the major Futurist exhibitions in Italy and abroad. Between 1929 and 1933, Oriani lives in Paris, where he comes into contact with the leading artists of the European avant-garde, such as Zadkine, Lèger, Kandinskij, Delaunay, Picasso, Deslaw, Le Corbusier, Sephor and Severini. During this period, he exhibits at the Galerie 23 and at Bernheim Jaune, and signs a contract with the art dealer Paul Rosenberg.
In the French capital, Oriani collaborates with writers Tullio Cordero and Giacomo Martina, and together they create the film "Vitesse" (1930-31), a artwork that celebrates the Futurist myth of speed. This film, the only existing example of Futurist cinema, was partially recovered in 1996 by the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.
In the 1930s, Oriani continued to participate in the Venice Biennials, exhibiting in 1930, 1932, 1934, 1936, 1938 and 1940, and also took part in the first and second editions of the Rome Quadrennial. In 1931, he approached Aeropainting, a movement parallel to futurist art that exalted the dynamism of flight. However, after a brief aero-pictorial interlude, Oriani returns to draw inspiration from expressionist canons.
During the Second World War, Oriani, a convinced anti-fascist, clandestinely participated in the partisan struggle in the Biella area until the Liberation. After the war, he refuses a ministerial position in Rome to return to private life. In the 1950s, he dedicated himself intensely to architecture, design and furniture, but also took up painting again, revisiting the Parisian period and developing a new cycle of works entitled "Human Presences". These works are characterized by an archaic and primitivist style, which reflects a search for primordial archetypes.
Oriani's works from the 1950s and 1960s were exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions, including the one at the Galleria Medusa in Rome in 1964, an anthology at the Galleria Rizzato-Whitwort em> in Milan in 1966 and an exhibition of works from the Parisian period at the Galleria Donatello in Palermo in 1971. In these years, Oriani expressed himself through various techniques, including oil on canvas, encaustics, graffiti on chalkboard, canvas cardboard, collageand pastel.
In addition to his artistic career, Oriani was also a journalist and editor-in-chief of magazines such as Città Nuova, NaturaandCittà Futurista, and collaborated with newspapers such as Il Secolo XIX andThe Ambrosiano. His commitment in the field of publishing and artistic dissemination is as significant as his pictorial production.
Giuseppe Oriani died in Rome on 1 December 1972. His artistic legacy has been kept alive thanks to the efforts of his heirs, who in 1966 founded the Fondation Oriani in Belgium, which was then transferred to Canada in 2009. foundation is dedicated to the dissemination of Oriani's works and to the care of an archive and a general catalog of the Maestro. A catalog of Pippo Oriani's works was published in 2009 by Giovanni Lista and Mariastella Margozzi, helping to preserve and spread knowledge of his contribution to 20th century art.
Pippo Oriani was a prominent figure in the Italian artistic panorama of the twentieth century. His career, marked by continuous experimentation and profound integration with the European avant-garde, reflects a curious and innovative personality. Oriani has been able to combine architectural rigor with pictorial flair, creating works that range from futurism to expressionism, from aeropainting to >primitivism, leaving an indelible mark in the history of Italian art.