Arturo Vermi

ARTURO VERMI Bergamo, 1928 - Paderno d’Adda, 1988

Arturo Vermi was born in 1928 in Bergamo. Self-taught, he reveals in his first pictorial experiences, dated 1950, an inspiration from German Expressionism. In 1956, coming into contact with the innovative instances that gravitated around the Brera district in Milan, his work moved towards an informal environment: in this period he met Costantino Guenzi. From 1959 he stayed for two years in Paris where he attended various ateliers, in particular those of Luigi Guadagnucci, André Blok, Szabo and OssipZadkine. In the French capital he binds with affectionate friendship to Beniamino Joppolo. In 1961 he returned to Milan where with Ettore Sordini and Angelo Verga he founded the Gruppo del Cenobio, then integrated by Agostino Ferrari, Alberto Lucia and Ugo La Pietra. In 1964 he resides in the Botteghe district of Sesto San Giovanni where with other painters including Agostino Bonalumi, Enrico Castellani, Carnà, Lino Marzulli and Lino Tiné he tries to bring artistic experiences back into everyday life. At the same time, with a contract that commits him to a long series of exhibitions, he is linked to the architect Arturo Cadario. In 1967 attending Lucio Fontana deepens that concept of space that will subsequently flow back into his own work. The 1975 defined by Vermi as “Lilit”, is a milestone both in his life and in his work: in fact, that happiness proposal begins that will lead him to the drafting of the first issue of “Azzurro” and of the “Manifesto of Disengagement”. Moving to Verderio, in Brianza, in the same year the Ministry of Public Education commissioned a documentary on his work to be used as teaching aids for high schools. In 1978 he resumed and expanded on themes and concepts expressed in the “Manifesto on Disengagement”: a second issue of “Azzurro” was distributed during the Venice Biennale. The same year he sets up that work of orbition and refusal which will then flow into the cycle of large canvases “Com’era bella la Terra”. In 1980 he designed and recorded “La Sequoia”, a sort of commandments that, the following year during a trip to Egypt with Antonio Paradiso and Nanda Vigo, he will return to Moses on Mount Sinai. In the same year his work focuses on the “I Colloqui” suite which will presage the advent of a work of happiness: “L’Annologio”. He died in Paderno d’Adda in 1988.

ARTURO VERMI Clessidra, 1974 Acrylic and golden leaf on canvas 51 1/4 x 38 1/2 in (130 x 98 cm)

ARTURO VERMI Untitled, 1968 Mixed technique on wood 12 1/2 x 8 3/4 in (32 x 22 cm)

ARTURO VERMI Untitled, 1964 Acrylic and golden leaf on canvas 39 1/4 x 31 1/2 in (100 x 80 cm)

ARTURO VERMI Tramonto, 1961 Oil con canvas 27 1/2 x 27 1/2 in (70 x 70 cm)