Emilio Vedova

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Emilio Vedova (August 9, 1919 − November 25, 2006) was an Italian modern painter, considered one of the most important to emerge in his country's artistic scene after World War II.

Vedova was born in Venice into a working-class family. After an initial formative experience within Expressionism, he joined the group "Corrente" (1942-43), which included other artists such as Renato Guttuso and Renato Birolli. He participated in the Resistenza and played a key role in the post-war Italian art movement, which was opening up and contributing originally to the European avant-garde. In 1946 he co-signed the manifesto of the Fronte Nuovo delle Arti, which included several Italian artists who were to become famous. In 1952 he became a member the influential Gruppo degli Otto (Afro, Birolli, Corpora, Santomaso, Morlotti, Vedova, Moreni, Turcato), organised by the critic Lionello Venturi. His work exerted a significant influence on the Arte Povera group.

He later established a fruitful cooperation with composer Luigi Nono, designing scenographies and costumes for the opera Intolleranza (1960). In 1984 he designed a highly original light setting for Nono's opera Prometeo at La Fenice. Nono dedicated to Vedova his first work for magnetic tape Omaggio a Vedova(1960).

Vedova spent most of his life in Venice, where he taught at the Accademia di Belle Arti from 1975 to his death; his wife Annabianca predeceased him a month earlier.