Claudio Verna

Levels - Lithograph by Claudio Verna - 1970 ca.

1970

Claudio Verna was born in Guardiagrele, in the province of Chieti, in 1937. From 1942 to 1956 he studied in Umbria, then at the University of Florence, where he graduated with a thesis on “Figurative Arts in Industrial Civilisation” and where he held his first major exhibitions. In 1961, he moved to Rome. For a few years, he renounced exhibitions in order to experiment and define the thought and tools of his research in total autonomy. In 1967, he returned to exhibiting, now definitively convinced of the “ancient and inalienable” reasons for painting. This was the period of the so-called “Analytical Painting”, aimed at a reflection on making art today and on the relationship with modern tradition. For a few years, he renounced exhibitions in order to experiment and define the thought and tools of his research in total autonomy. In 1967, he returned to exhibiting, now definitively convinced of the “ancient and inalienable” reasons for painting. This was the period of the so-called Analytical Painting, aimed at a reflection on making art today and on the relationship with the modern tradition. Having reached expressive maturity, Verna's painting “articulates between the polarities of extreme rigour and intense emotional abandon”. The absolute protagonist of the paintings is colour and its ability to take on the maximum values of saturation and light. After his debut at the Galleria Numero in Florence in 1960, he held over a hundred solo exhibitions in Italy and abroad, including the Venice Biennale in 1970 and 1980, and anthological exhibitions in the Museums of Gibellina in 1988, Spoleto in 1994, Ferrara in 1997, Conegliano in 1998, Treviso in 2000, L'Aquila in 2007 and the Fondazione Mudima in Milan in 2012. At the same time, he has taken part in numerous group exhibitions and international shows in Düsseldorf, London, Philadelphia, Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Darmstadt, Cologne, Moscow, Leningrad, Grenoble, Nice, Prague, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and in numerous Italian cities, receiving various awards. In 2008, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei awarded him the “Antonio Feltrinelli” Prize for painting. He was appointed National Academician of the Accademia di San Luca. In 2010, the Catalogo Ragionato of his work edited by Volker W. Feierabend and Marco Meneguzzo was published by Silvana Editoriale (MI).