IL GRUPPO DEL CENOBIO (MILANO, 1962)
The search for a "symbolic experimental minimum" found its opportunity for verification and comparison within the group formed by Ettore Sordini, Angelo Verga, Arturo Vermi, Ugo La Pietra, and Agostino Ferrari. Though brief, this experience was intense and historically represents the only group to develop the so-called "sign current." Founded in Milan in 1962, alongside poet Alberto Lùcia, the group took its name from the Galleria Cenobio, the venue where they held a series of exhibitions in the same year. These were followed by other exhibitions at La Saletta del Premio del Fiorino in Florence, the Indice in Milan, and Galleria Cavallino in Venice. The group rejected the nihilistic, hypercritical stance toward painting of the time, opposing the influence of American culture and distancing themselves from object art, Pop Art, and Kinetic Art. In their works, the sign became the central focus of their research, driven by a shared desire to offer a new interpretation of the act of painting at a time when avant-garde trends—from the artists of Azimut to the Gruppo T—were exploring other forms of expression. The sign, drawn with different characteristics according to each artist's personality, carried a poetic, emotional narrative that was free and autonomous. Each of the five artists came to the sign from different backgrounds: Vermi and Ferrari, coming from informal art, nearly simultaneously developed a new, deeply poetic language, refining a free style of writing; La Pietra sought to break boundaries and disrupt the established system, foreshadowing his “architectural” vocation; Sordini and Verga, both connected to the Gruppo Nucleare and initially close to Piero Manzoni, turned toward conceptual approaches where the sign lived and disturbed the space of the painting’s surface. Although the group disbanded after less than two years, the influence of their collective experience remained strong in the individual work of its members. Each artist continued their journey, emphasizing different aspects of the expressive potential they had explored as a group, using unique approaches and styles. In March 2013, a major retrospective titled "Nel segno del segno" (curated by Luciano Caramel) was held at Palazzo delle Stelline in Milan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the group’s first exhibition. Recently, several exhibitions focused on the group and its members have demonstrated the renewed interest in one of the most significant periods of research in Italian abstraction. Among these are: "Il Gruppo del Cenobio, Arte Italiana. Segno e scrittura" (curated by Vincenzo Accame and Angela Vettese) at Banca Commerciale Italiana, Milan, 1996; "1963. Nuovi segni, nuove forme e nuove immagini" (curated by Francesco Tedeschi) at Gallerie d’Italia, Milan, 2013; and "Il Gruppo del Cenobio. Fontana, Manzoni e le avanguardie" (curated by Alberto Mazzacchera) at Brun Fine Art, London, 2022.
→ 01 AGOSTINO FERRARI / BREVE RACCONTO, 1963, mixed technique on canvas paper, cm 63x48
→ 02 UGO LA PIETRA / LEPRE LUNARE, 1965, oil, graphite pencil and ink on canvas board, cm 18x24
→ 03 ETTORE SORDINI / SENZA TITOLO, early 1960s, mixed technique on canvas paper, cm 47x68
→ 04 ANGELO VERGA / PIRINJO, early 1960s, mixed technique on canvas paper, cm 49.5x70
→ 05 ARTURO VERMI / DIARIO, 1961, aniline on canvas paper, cm 49,2x35,7
