Edmondo Bacci (Venice 1913-1978)
Edmondo Bacci is an Italian painter born in Venice in 1913. His works belong to the vast expressive area of Informal.
He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, from 1932 to 1937, with Ettore Tito and Virgilio Guidi. His first solo exhibition was in 1945 at the Galleria del Cavallino in Venice, while in 1948 he took part in the Biennale for the first time.
From the mid-1950s he produced the Esplosioni series, in which he combined themes of ‘genesis’ and ‘cosmic destruction’, mainly using primary colours to define large areas in which he played with a wide range of other colours. In 1953, Bacci signed the manifesto Lo spazialismo e la pittura italiana nel secolo XX (Spatialism and Italian Painting in the 20th Century) and participated in the exhibition of the Spatial Movement, founded by Lucio Fontana. From then on he was present at several exhibitions of Spatialism including ‘Espacialismo’ in 1956 at the Galeria Bonino in Buenos Aires.
In the paintings of the late 1960s, space seems to acquire new depth and magnetism, while the chromatic explosion is concentrated in a sort of ‘luminous frame’. In the 1970s, Bacci moved towards a geometric abstraction characterised by pure colours and an orientation that favours three-dimensionality. In 1974 he was awarded the title of professor for teaching painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice.
Among the galleries that hosted his personal exhibitions were the Seventy-Five Gallery in New York in ’56 and in ’57 the Galleria del Naviglio in Milan, in Rome the Galleria d’Arte Selecta and in Switzerland the Galleria La Cittadella in Ascona. Also, in 1957 Bacci was present in the exhibition “Between Space and Earth” at the Marlborough Gallery in London.
In 1958 a room was dedicated to him at the Venice Biennale and in 1959 he was awarded the City of Venice Prize at the Third Biennale of Contemporary Italian Engraving. During the 1960s he exhibited all over the world, Drian Gallery in London, ‘Neue italienische kunst’ at Galerie 59 in Aschaffenburg, Germany, Frank Perls Gallery in Beverly Hills. In 1972 he produced some lithographs for Guido Ballo’s poem Il ciè-lo Kàinos. In 1974 he held the chair of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice.
He died in his hometown in 1978.
