Dorazio, Pietro
The now very well-known Italian painter Piero Dorazio was born in Rome on 29. 6. 1927; he belonged to the group of the Milanese 'Movimento d'Arte Concreta', his abstraction points to the confrontation with the concrete art movement and its polarisation against the expressive as well as the then socialist, politically committed art movement. 1945 Begins to study architecture (until 1951). At the same time he develops his painting, which soon becomes concrete and is based on Cubism and Futurism. 1946 'Arte Sociale' group, Rome; 1947 'Manifesto del formalismo'; Paris, Ecole National supérieure des Beaux-Arts. Encounters with numerous artists of classical modernism, the Russian avant-garde, Constructivism. Avant-garde, Constructivists, soon also the avant-garde of his generation. 1948 begins his involvement in the 'Art Club' Rome. Founds the gallery forum 'Age d'Or' in Rome and Florence and the 'Fondazione Origine' exhibition and documentation centre. Dorazio expands panel painting with plastic aluminium, wood and plexiglass reliefs, which later helps him to achieve new structural reductions of form in painting. Colour gradually became the focus of his work. Alongside Graubner, Fontana and Manzoni, Dorazio opened up the aesthetic space of colour. His work is characterised by a decorative effect, a tendency towards repetitive ornamentation in the manner of interweaving the linear and the two-dimensional. The pure primary colours remain decisive for his painting. This is flanked by his intensive printmaking, especially lithography and etching. He produced numerous bibliophile works in collaboration with writers and poets (including Ungaretti). Dorazio took on teaching functions several times, first of all in the USA. He made a name for himself early on as an art writer and art critic: Publications, editorships, writings including 'la fantasia del arte nella vita moderna, 1954/55'. This biography is subject to copyright. (c) Evi Kliemand, 1998. All rights reserved. Reproduced with kind permission of the author.