MARIO MAFAI Rome, 1902 - 1965
Fantasia, 1941
Oil on canvas, 22,7 x 29,5 cm
Signed lower right: ...

MARIO MAFAI Rome, 1902 - 1965
Fantasia, 1941
Oil on canvas, 22,7 x 29,5 cm
Signed lower right: Mafai Photo-certificate by Giulia Mafai, 1975 with stamp of Galleria d’Arte Ciak di Elisa Magri, Rome BIOGRAPHY: The father is a notary, the mother runs the "Salus" pension in Piazza Indipendenza. The young Mafai abandoned his regular studies around 1917 to devote himself to painting. In 1924 he made friends with Gino Bonichi (Scipione) and together they attended the free school of the nude at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1925 he joined the Raphaël recently arrived from Paris, with whom he had three daughters, Miriam (1926), Simona (1928) and Giulia (1930). In 1927 Mafai and Antonietta went to live in the house-studio in Via Cavour, also frequented by Scipione and Mazzacurati. In the same year Mafai made his debut in the "Exhibition of studies and sketches" organized by the National Artistic Association in Via Margutta. In 1928 he exhibited at the XCIV Exhibition of Amateurs and Connoisseurs of Fine Arts. In this period Mafai attended the Art History Library of Palazzo Venezia together with Scipione, became friends with Ungaretti, de Libero, Sinisgalli, Beccaria, Falqui. In 1929 he exhibited, with Scipione and others, at the "Convention" of young painters at Palazzo Doria. THERE IS. Oppo supports the group of young Romans and writes about Mafai's anti-impressionism, which exhibits landscapes and portraits, recalling the names of Utrillo, Derain, Vlaminck. Shortly thereafter, Longhi, reviewing the I Sindacale del Lazio, coined the successful definition "Scuola di Via Cavour" for the trio Mafai-Scipione-Raphaël. At the beginning of 1930 he leaves with his wife for Paris, but in November he is back in Rome for a solo show, with Scipione, at the Galleria di Roma directed by P.M. Bar of. It is a transitional phase; the dark mixtures that derive from museum suggestions yield to a renewed interest in light. In 1931 he exhibited at the I Quadriennale in Rome, which made his work known, along with that of other exponents of the Roman school, in a traveling exhibition in the United States (1931-32); he made his debut at the XVIII Venice Biennale (1932). The years 1933-34 see him engaged in intense work, which will produce some of his major works, Women who stretch out in the sun (1933), Nude in rest (1933, Rome, National Gallery of Modern Art), Lesson of piano (1934) and the series of Flowers. In 1935, the II Quadriennale hosted his personal exhibition with 29 paintings, which confirmed his position and won him a prize of 25,000 lire. In the same year the "Exhibition of Contemporary Italian Painting" was inaugurated in San Francisco, a traveling exhibition organized by Sabatello, which represents the recent tonal turning point in Roman painting. The success is confirmed by his personal exhibition at the Comet Gallery (1937), where, among other things, some of his famous Demolitions appear, refined coloristic meditations that take their cue from the demolitions taking place in the historic center. At the 21st Venice Biennale (1938) he has a room with Ziveri. In 1939 he moved with his family to Genoa, to free Antonietta from racial discrimination; the collectors and friends Jesi and Della Ragione are close to him, he meets Manzù, Guttuso, Birolli, he becomes friends with Sbarbaro. At the second Milanese exhibition of "Corrente" at the Galleria Grande (1939) he exhibited his first Fantasie, tangles of conflicting nudes or masked grotesques, where the most varied references (Goya, Géricault, Grosz) crowd into a frantic atmosphere of terror that foretells war. In 1940 he held an important personal exhibition at the Barbaroux Gallery in Milan; he wins the Bergamo Prize with Models in the studio (1940, Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera). In 1941 he had a solo show in Genoa with Marino Marini. In 1943 he returned to Rome and in 1944 he was among the main exhibitors of the exhibition "Art against barbarism" promoted by "L'Unità" at the Galleria di Roma, where he presented the Fantasies. He adheres to the P.C.I. and in 1948, in a letter to "Rinascita", he commits himself, with others, to an art against formalism without content. In the same year, the XXIV Venice Biennale hosts an important solo exhibition, which collects works from 1938 to '47. From that moment it has been a succession of exhibitions and prizes (we will remember the one at the VII Quadrennial of '55). The Biennale of '58 welcomes 15 canvases on the theme of the Market, which abandon strict references to reality in the prevalence of pure chromatic textures. The further results of this non-figurative research are exhibited in a series of exhibitions, at the Galleria La Tartaruga in Rome (1959), at the Galleria Blu in Milan and at the Bussola in Turin (1960), at the VI Biennial of San Paolo del Brasile (1961). ). It is the last period: from the refined chromatism of Ricordi usili (1958), Rinascere (1959), What remains (1960) ends with the bare and dramatic Corde of 1960-63. In an initial assessment of Italian art between the two wars, Mafai has a prominent place in the historical exhibition on the Roman school curated by Castelfranco and Durbè at the '59 Quadriennale. He holds his last solo show at the L'Attico Gallery in Rome in 1964; in a note in the catalog the painter underlines the internal coherence of his work, which, in an arco of over forty years, has led him to innovative choices not out of anxiety for novelty or hasty adaptation, but to explore, beyond being, the possible. BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. de Libero, "Mafai", Rome 1949; Mario Mafai, V. Martinelli, "Mafai", Rome 1967; Catalog of the Mario Mafai exhibition, edited by G. Sangiorgi and J.Recupero, Rome 1969; "The painting of Mafai", R. De Grada, Milan 1969; M.Mafai, "Diary 1926-65", edited by G. Appella, Rome 1984; Catalog of the Mario Mafai 1902-1965 exhibition, edited by F. D'Amico, G. Appella, F. Gualdoni cat. exhibition, Palazzo Ricci and Municipal Art Gallery, Macerata 1986; M. Fagiolo Dell'Arco, V. Rivosecchi, "Mafai", Rome 1986; Catalog of the exhibition I fiori di Mafai, edited by M.Fagiolo Dell'Arco, Rome 1989; Catalog of the exhibition "I Mafai - Parallel Lives", edited by M. Fagiolo dell’Arco, critical apparatus F. R. Morelli Rome 1994.
Very good condition Cornice, senza vetro