Mino Maccari biography
- MINO MACCARI PAINTER
Mino Maccari was a Italian painter, engraver and writer. A multifaceted and influential figure in the Italian artistic and literary scene, he was born in Siena in 1898, into a family of the Sienese petty bourgeoisie.
From a young age he demonstrated a lively intelligence and a propensity for drawing, preferring the use of charcoal. However, at the insistence of his father, a professor of literature, he turned towards traditional studies, graduating in law in 1920. During his university years, Mino Maccari distinguished himself for his rebellious and interventionist spirit, participating as an artillery officer in the First World War.
At the end of the conflict, he resumed his studies in Siena and began working as a trainee at the Dini lawyer's office in Colle di Val d'Elsa. In moments free from work, however, Mino Maccari dedicates himself to his true passion: painting. His restless and polemical spirit reflects the equally tumultuous period of Italian history, the first post-war period. Mino Maccari stands out both for his participation in social clashes and as a prominent figure during the March on Rome in 1922.
In 1924, he was commissioned by Angiolo Bencini to take care of the printing of the magazine The Wild, a fascist, revolutionary and anti-bourgeois newspaper, where he published his first engravings. In 1926, he definitively gave up the legal profession to take over the management of the The Wild, which he holds until 1942. The Wild initially it promotes an intransigent fascism that aims to subvert the old bourgeois state. However, when Mino Maccari realizes Mussolini's intention to promote the normalization of fascism, the magazine changes course, focusing more on the cultural terrain. To mark this passage, Maccari writes an article entitled Goodbye to the past, which outlines the new direction of Il Selvaggio: a commitment to art, satire, and political laughter, following a popular and seemingly mocking, but actually subtly cultured tradition.
In parallel with the direction of the newspaper, Mino Maccari continues to devote himself to an artistic career. He participates in various national exhibitions between 1927 and 1930, establishing himself as a painter appreciated by the general public. In the following years, his collaborations extend to other important Italian magazines such as The print, Quadrivium, Literary Italy, It is To all.
After the Second World War, he continues to obtain successes and recognitions for his artistic work, full of decisive brushstrokes, vibrant chromatic accents and a lively graphic stroke. His artistic production is endless and varied, including drawings, watercolours, temperas and collaborations with prestigious publishing houses. In 1963 he won the Feltrinelli Prize for Painting and, ten years later, he is the first to receive the Political Satire Award of Forte dei Marmi.
Despite the success, Mino Maccari died silently and without fanfare in Rome in 1989, at the age of 90. His life and work remain a remarkable example of an artist who sailed against the tide, experimenting and innovating through different forms of artistic expression. His works continue to be appreciated for their liveliness and their ability to capture the various aspects of the Italian reality with a documentary attitude.