Antonio Santacroce (painter)

Antonio Santacroce (born January 1, 1946 in Rosolini near Syracuse ) is a Sicilian painter , sculptor and graphic artist .

Life

childhood

Antonio Santacroce grew up as the fifth child of the family in a small Sicilian town, where he got to know Greek myths and Sicilian fairy tales at an early age. His father Giovanni was committed to the rights of farmers. He wrote satirical texts and drew posters for them. In his spare time he often sought the open workshop of the renowned Sicilian Carrettomalers Don Giorgi (Don George) and made sketches of the French Paladins ( Paladini di Francia on) that are popular forms of puppet theater as one of the main motives of the decoration of the Carreto. At the age of six years, the young Santa Croce allowed in the distribution of estates of Noto be there. As he left the subsequent festival, he discovered a treasure in the crack of an old carob tree: Arabic and Greek pottery shards, clay figures, pieces of glass. He never found the place again. This experience was formative for him and his artistic work.

Artistic development

In 1959 Antonio Santacroce went to Catania to study at the Istituto Statale d'Arte (state art school) and did a three-year training there. He also attended an arts and crafts school in the evening where he learned glass and mosaic techniques. The student found a book about Leonardo da Vinci that fascinated him and that he studied again and again. In 1962 he took part in a group exhibition organized by the Gioventu Studentesca and won first prize for painting with the painting Il riposo del contadino (Rest of a Peasant).

Between 1963 and 1966 he got to know the theater. First he designed some posters, then he was employed as a set designer at the Teatro Massimo Bellini . This was followed by attending an acting school and dealing with Shakespeare. He received the President's Gold Medal for Painting.

In 1968 Antonio Santacroce went to Rome . After a few months he was called up for military service in Umbria. There he studied the frescoes by Tiepolo intensively .

In 1969 he moved back to Rome and earned his living with small film roles and commissioned works as a painter. He met the Swiss engraver Johannes Gachnang , who introduced him to the technique of copper engraving . He then worked at the Ferrowohlen - Eisenwerk in Wohlen and got to know the hard work of the ironworkers , which reminded him of the purgatory of the divina commedia ( divine comedy ). In his free time he visited the museums in Zurich , Basel and Bern . In 1972 he went back to Catania and taught at the State Artistic Gymnasium of Catania. There he worked intensively with the technique of Paul Klee , Kandinsky and Johannes Itten . From 1973 to 1980 he further developed the copperplate engraving technique he had learned in Rome and ran his own workshop. In 1980 he started his apprenticeship with a lithographer in Rome and then ran a lithographic workshop in Catania, where he made several series about his stone press. In 1981 he got to know Käthe Kollwitz's lithographs in Hamburg . Shortly thereafter, he returned to the copperplate technique. From 1982 to 1985 he produced over 7000 engravings.

In the years 1985 to 1989 Antonio Santacroce turned to painting and began the series Catania sotterranea (the underground Catania) in 1988 , mainly in the tempera technique. In 1989 he went to Zurich and taught there at the art school of the canton school. From 1988 to 2004 the artist created the diptych Dare e Avere (Debit and Credit).

In the period from 1990 to 1994 he came to sculpture through dealing with the typical materials of clay, plaster and wax. The bronze sculpture Sibilla was created . In 1995 the series Il sogno archeologico (the archaeological dream) was created, in which he realized his original dream. In addition to oil paintings, Santacroce created sculptures and figurines made of bronze or terracotta and ceramics typical of the country. In 2001 the sculpture Madre e figlio (mother and child) was created on the Piazza del Castello by Aci Castello .

Antonio Santacroce currently teaches at the Accademia Nike in Catania.

plant

Antonio Santacroce's oeuvre includes drawings, pictures, sculptures and ceramics. The artist cannot be assigned to any contemporary style.

Drawings, prints and engravings

Until 1985, drawings with aquatints , copperplate engravings, lithographs and engravings predominate in Santacroc’s work , including a series about his stone press and 7000 engravings . The themes are mostly taken from real life (the four seasons, the meal is ready, etc.) or folkloric (marionettes and marionette players, variations on the Castel Ursino, etc.)

photos

The pictures are often about myths, fables, dreams, the underground. Things that are not really visible. Series are:

Eruption of Mount Etna 1669, fresco by Giacinto Platania in front of the sacristy of the Cathedral of Catania

• La Catania sotterranea (The underground Catania)

In 1988 Santacroce made an imaginative journey into the subterranean Catania , this city at the foot of the Etna volcano , which was repeatedly buried by lava and ravaged by earthquakes, and thus brought images out of the dark to light that no one else would have seen if he had not painted. The pictures in tempera are mostly made in earth colors and show roughly outlined fresco-like figures. The background is often reminiscent of vaults.

• Dare e Avere (debit and credit)

From 1988 Santacroce realized his recurring vision of antiquity on the pages of an old bookkeeping book. White or pastel-colored figures, sometimes somewhat grotesque-looking people or animal-like beings show scenes mostly from mythology . The preferred technique here is again tempera.

• Il sogno archeologico (The archaeological dream)

This series was created in 1995 and in the following years. In it the artist realized his original archaeological dream most strongly. The pictures are often in thick oil paint with scratched traces that are reminiscent of old pottery shards. There are also pictures in mixed media or different techniques on top of one another, which are somewhat reminiscent of archaeological layers. The motifs mostly relate to folk themes

• Other series are Le favole (fables), Il dialogo degli dei (the dialogue of the gods), and Pinacoteca ( art gallery ).

Sculptures and ceramics

In 1993 the small sculpture Satiro mutilo (silent satyr) was created in 1994 the bronze sculpture Sibilla (Sibille) followed. In 1995, as part of the series Il sogno archeologico (The Archaeological Dream), various small sculptures, bronze sculptures and clay figurines of often mutilated or fragmentary figures were created. In 2003 the bronze sculpture Madre e figlio (mother and child) was created on the Piazza Castello by Aci Castello, Maschera del navigante (mask of the seafarer), as well as typical clay vessels and water carriers.

Solo exhibitions (selection)

• 1991 International Modern Art Association, Milan

• 2007 Società Dante Alighieri, Rome, Palazzo Firenze: Le stanze del sogno

• 2008 Cultural Institute of the Italian Embassy, ​​Berlin

literature

• Antonio Santacroce: le stanze del sogno. Testi di Vincenzo Consolo et al., Gruppo editoriale Kalós, Palermo 2007, ISBN 978-88-89224-34-2 Italian, English, German
• Vincenzo Consolo , Santacroce. Il sogno Archeologico , Rome, Catania 1997

Web links

• Life and work of Antonio Santacroce (de., Ital., Engl.)
• Paolo Bonaiuto, information on the curriculum vitae (ital.) And some illustrations of works by Santacroc

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Santacroce was actually born on December 18, 1945, but was not registered with the registry office until later, according to a common practice in southern Italy, cf. Paolo Bonaiuto, Diario Doc, Siracusa 2002
2. ↑ Santacroce. Il sogno Archeologico, Rome, Catania 1997, p. 17
3. ↑ Press release  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.