AGOSTINO BONALUMI
Agostino Bonalumi was born on July 10, 1935, in Vimercate, near Milan. He studied technical and mechanical drawing but was largely self-taught as an artist, beginning to exhibit at a very young age. In 1958, he co-founded the Bonalumi, Castellani, and Manzoni group, debuting with an exhibition at Galleria Pater in Milan, followed by shows in Rome, Milan, and Lausanne. In 1961, at Galleria Kasper in Lausanne, he helped found the Nuova Scuola Europea group. Around this time, Arturo Schwarz began collecting his works and, in 1965, hosted a solo exhibition at his gallery in Milan, with a catalog introduction by Gillo Dorfles. In 1966, Bonalumi started a long collaboration with Galleria del Naviglio in Milan, which exclusively represented him and, in 1973, published a major monograph on his work, written by Dorfles. That same year, he was invited to the Venice Biennale with a group of works, returning in 1970 with a solo room. During this period, he also traveled and worked extensively in North Africa and the United States, where he presented a solo exhibition at Bonino Gallery in New York. He took part in the São Paulo Biennial in 1967 and the Biennale des Jeunes in Paris in 1968. Bonalumi explored pittura-ambientale (environmental painting) through large-scale works, such as Blu abitabile (1967) for the exhibition Lo spazio dell’immagine in Foligno, Grande Nero (1968) for his solo show at the Museum am Ostwall in Dortmund, and Dal giallo al bianco e dal bianco al giallo (1979) for the exhibition Pittura Ambiente at Palazzo Reale in Milan, where he analyzed space as a primary, psychological human activity. This theme continued in Ambiente Bianco. Spazio trattenuto e spazio invaso, created in 2002 for the Guggenheim Foundation in Venice. In 1980, the Lombardy Region organized a major retrospective at Palazzo Te in Mantua, tracing his entire career. In 2002, the National Academy of San Luca in Rome honored him with a solo exhibition celebrating his receipt of the 2001 Premio Presidente della Repubblica for lifetime achievement. The following year, the Institut Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt presented Agostino Bonalumi. Malerei in der dritten Dimension. He also worked in scenography, designing sets and costumes for the ballet Partita (1970) at the Teatro Romano in Verona, with music by Goffredo Petrassi and choreography by Susanna Egri, and for Rot (1973) at the Rome Opera House, with music by Domenico Guaccero and choreography by Amedeo Amodio. He created artist books for Edizioni Colophon (Belluno) and Edizioni Il Bulino (Rome) and published poetry collections with Colophon, Book Editore, and Edizioni Poli Art. Despite battling illness, Bonalumi remained dedicated to his work, continuing his artistic research and completing a series of bronze sculptures based on designs from the late 1960s. His work was exhibited in major cities such as Brussels, Moscow, New York, and Singapore. In the summer of 2013, he enthusiastically collaborated on preparations for an important exhibition in London, though he sadly did not live to see its opening. Agostino Bonalumi passed away in Monza on September 18, 2013.
ROSSO, 1999
dry engraving on silkscreened everted paper,
applied as a collage
cm 56x76
150 es.
GIALLO, 1999
dry engraving on silkscreened everted paper,
applied as a collage
cm 56x76
150 es.
