Piero Gauli biography

- PIERO GAULI PITTORE

 

Piero Gauli was an Italian painter and set designer. He was born in Milan in 1916. 

He trained at the Istituto Superiore di Architettura di Venezia and from 1937 began working as a set designer for various experimental theaters and then for the Palcoscenico group in Milan. In 1938 he debuted as a painter presenting some works at the Mostra Universitaria Triveneta.

In 1940 he moved to Milan and joined the Corrente group with whom he exhibited the following year in the collective exhibition held at the Galleria La Bottega. His style, strongly expressionist, is characterized by carved figures loaded with color. His works recall the work of the Comacine masters but also bear the influences of Northern Europe and in particular Oskar Kokoschka.

He took part in the Second World War, departing for the Russian front in 1942. Imprisoned, he was interned in the Polish camp of Cholmin. During this period he produced several drawings that recount his experience as a soldier. 

Returned from captivity, he began to dedicate himself to artistic ceramics while continuing to focus on painting and drawing, particularly watercolor.

In 1947 he held his first solo exhibition at the Galleria il Naviglio di Milano and in 1948 he participated in the Venice Biennale and the Rome Quadriennale. After moving to Umbria, he frequented the ceramic workshops of Gubbio and in the following years took part in exhibitions in Faenza, Gubbio, and Pesaro.

In the early 1950s he was in Rome, while in 1957 he returned to Milan where he exhibited in a solo show at the Galleria dell'Annunciata. The early 1960s saw him engaged in several exhibitions in Paris, New York, and Munich.

Piero Gauli died in Milan in 2012.