Aurelio De Felice
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Aurelio De Felice (born in Torre Orsina, Terni - Italy on October, 29th 1915; dead in Torre Orsina, Terni - Italy on June, 14th 1996). Italian sculptor. He is considered one of the most important examples of the "against 900" movement. His masterpieces are exposed all around the world.
[edit] Biography
Born in Torre Orsina, a small town on the hills around Terni. He is not really famous to the great public but he is very well known by the experts.
Of humble origins, he begins his studies in contrast with his family at the "Roman School" in the 30's.
He gets a degree at the "Academy of Fine Arts" in Rome, then he became professor in the same school.
He alternates the lessons to the artistic activity with many personal exibithions. The most important in that period is the one in the "Gallery of Rome", introduced by Renato Guttuso.
At the end of the Second World War he starts to travel across the Europe. In those years he exposes in Switzerland, Germany and France where he creates, in Paris on behalf of the "Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs", the “School of Italian Art”. There he meets Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Jean Cocteau, Kees Van Dongen, Ossip Zadkine, Mark Tobey and Constantin Brâncuşi.
He doesn't left himself to be involved from the big debate between realism and formalism of 50's continuing on his own road.
In 1961 he create the "Institute of Arts"" in Terni. In those years he continues to expose in the whole Europe (Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France) and in 1967 he will be in charge for the "Italian Institute of Culture" in Hamburg and for the "Center of Italian Studies" in Zurich.
In 1977 he is invited in Tokyo to the Museum of Modern Art for a conference on Orneore Metelli, a "painter-shoemaker" from Terni, father of the Naif Italian movement, whose art had become famous thanks to the De Felice's work.
His last exhibition takes place in 1982, after that a disease forces the scultor to limit his activity.
He spends the last years of his life in the quiet of his house on the hills of Torre Orsina where he had past away on June, 14th 1996.
