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Duilio Barnabe
Figura seduta (Seated figure)

c. 1959

About the Item

The painting is signed at the lower right by Barnabè. In 1959, French art critic Michel Concil-Lacoste, in the newspaper Le Monde, expressed his views on Barnabè: "Barnabè is a painter of conciliation and of silence, a painter of the impossible dialogue. He poses the problem of communication in the barest...terms, confounding willingly the animate and inanimate." Duilio Barnabè (1914-1961) was born in Bologna in 1914. Early on, it was clear that he was to be an artist. During his student years, he studied for a time with the major Bolognese painter Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964). In 1946, Barnabè and his young wife, Angiola, who also was from Bologna, left for Paris. In Paris, Barnabè became increasingly influenced by Picasso, but he remained under the spell of the great Italian masters of the Renaissance. In particular, his work was descended from a sense of monumentality first developed by Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506), an artist who came from the same Veneto region of Italy as the forefathers of Barnabè. Barnabè was selected to exhibit his work in the 1952 Venice Biennale. He died tragically young in 1961 at the age of 47 in a car accident in the Italian Alps on his way back to France from visiting his family in Bologna. His work is increasingly recognised for its important contribution to mid-century Modernism. For more information on Barnabè, visit our website - R.S. Johnson Fine Art, Chicago.
  • Creator:
    Duilio Barnabe (1914 - 1961, Italian)
  • Creation Year:
    c. 1959
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 39.38 in (100 cm)Width: 31.89 in (81 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Note that measurements are of the canvas, excluding the frame.
  • Gallery Location:
    Chicago, IL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU365312444302
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