Raffaele Frumenti

Raffaele Frumenti

Raffaele Frumenti in the 1970s
Born 1 September 1922
Rome, Italy
Died 29 January 2002 (aged 79)
Rome, Italy
Nationality Italian
Education Scuola romana
Known for Painting
Notable work

Diaconi (Deacons)
Primo Attore
L'Organista (The Organist)
Cattedrale Bianca (White Cathedral)
Donna e fichi d'india (Woman and Prickly Pears)

Marionette e Burattini (Marionettes and Puppets)
Movement Contemporary
Awards
  • Gold Medal Municipality of Rome
  • Gold Medal of the Presidenza della Camera Rome
  • Gold Medal of the Senate of the Italian Republic
  • Gold Medal of the Chamber of Commerce, Rome
  • Gold Medal of the European Cultural Community
  • Gold Medal of the Municipality of Rome - Assessorato Antichità & Belle Arti
  • 1st Prize - Gold Medal at Biennale of La Spezia
  • Gold Medal Italian AVI, Department of Civil Affairs Rome
  • Cinquant'anni di pittura (Fifty Years of Art), Trophy Tartaglia Arte
  • Leone d'Oro Rampante (Golden Lion), City of Abbiategrasso.

Raffaele Frumenti (born 1 September 1922), was an Italian painter belonging to the modern movement of the Scuola romana (Roman School).[1]

Life and career

Born in the ancient Roman papal suburb of Borgo Pio, painter by vocation, Frumenti exhibited artistic and expressive ability since his boyhood, when for pure fun he used to build some small marionette theatres (subsequently to appear in his works), taking care of set and scenography. Married to Dorotea Savasta in 1943, after the end of World War II he alternated painting with many other jobs. In this period, which he called the yellow phase, his artistic production was deeply influenced by his staying in Sicily[2]

In his next phase and after 1955, Frumenti painted subjects that, together with a renewed chromatic sense, were to define his final and decisive artistic mode: he represented characters resembling cardinals, who at the same time trigger vibrant images of clowns, in a world of ghosts projected from the subconscious, possibly the consequence of a childhood passed in seeking mysterious things inside the St. Peter's Basilica.[3]

His palette became brighter, acquiring strong colours of red hues, oranges, teals and chrome yellows - as preferred by Italian artists such as Giovanni Omiccioli,[4] Alberto Ziveri,[5] Purificato, Capogrossi, Eliano Fantuzzi,[6] Sante Monachesi and others who shared and admired Frumenti's style, also fusing together those experiences that designated the Roman School.

Frumenti was a teacher of Art Drawing in Rome's high schools[7] He was also commissioned by the Italian Art Trust to paint a triptych mural in the Hall of the San Basilio Academy of Rome.

Frumenti's world is an intensely coloured one, melancholy, ironic and captivating, which explodes in its representation of the human comedy.[8]

In 1991, on the occasion of Frumenti’s personal exhibition in Rome, Italian journalist Lino Longo (of Il Tempo) stated:

For me Raffaele Frumenti is a living monument, a man who’s given a splendid form to art, with his knowledge and wisdom, with the great love that animates him… His paintings have attracted me through the suffused tonality of their colours combined with the dramatic prominence of their figures, as a romantic veil that embraces without concealing.[9]

Exhibitions

(personal and collective)

The artist at work in his studio in Rome, (1967)

Notes

  1. ↑ Cf. biographical note on Monterossocalabro.com. Accessed 22/05/2011
  2. ↑ See for instance some of the titles for paintings of that period: Piazzetta del Sud (Southern Square) - Il ragazzo con il somarello (Boy with Donkey)- Le comari - Uomini di paese (Village Men) - Cantastorie (Storytellers). Predominant colours: gold ochres, maroons, deep greens and chalky whites. Cf. Biographical Notes.Accessed 22 May 2011
  3. ↑ Cf. information on Arte Nocchia. Accessed 22 May 2011
  4. ↑ Cf. it:Wiki under Giovanni Omiccioli, as well as Giovanni Omiccioli, biography
  5. ↑ Cf. Roman School, Alberto Ziveri and the Scuola romana, as well as it:Wiki under Alberto Ziveri
  6. ↑ Cf. Eliano Fantuzzi on Firenze Art. Accessed 22 May 2011
  7. ↑ Specifically at the Scuola Media Statale Benvenuto Cellini.
  8. ↑ Artist's interview on YouTube
  9. ↑ Cf. Raffaele Frumenti. La Commedia Umana (Raffaele Frumenti. The Human Comedy), Rome 1991, p.25.

Gallery of works

Suonatori (Players, 1963)
In giallo (In yellow, 972)
Donne romane (Roman women, 1977)
Arlecchino (Arlequin, 1979)
Prelato in rosso (Prelate in red, 1984)
Intervallo d'attori (Actors' break, 1991)

See also

Bibliography

External links