"Gallo, Parrot, Turtledove and Sunflower"

DOMENICO PURIFICATO

Unanimously considered one of the greatest Italian painters of the 20th century, Domenico Purificato was born in Fondi (LT), on March 14, 1915. Having attained his classical high school diploma, he devoted himself to painting while simultaneously undertaking studies in law. In 1934, he moved to Rome and met fellow countryman Libero de Libero, who introduced him to the artistic milieu of the Roman School. He exhibited for the first time in 1936 at the “Cometa” gallery in Rome. He was a multifaceted artist who ranged from painting, to cinema, to set design; in fact, from 1940 to 1943 he was editor of Cinema magazine, for which, in 1940 he wrote a series of 12 articles precisely on the relationship between cinema and painting. He also became its editor-in-chief in place of Vittorio Mussolini from July 25 until the closing of the periodical at the end of 1943 due to war events. In 1953 he participated in the first Trade Union Exhibition of the Roman Provincial Syndicate adhering to the National Federation of Artists in Rome, together with such well-known artists as Renato Guttuso, Carlo Levi, Vito Apuleio, Giuseppe Canizzaro, Nino Chillemi, Nino Gasparri, Maria Giarrizzo, Adelina Giuliani, Pietro Cascella, Linda Puccini, Antonio Sanfilippo, Carmelo Savelli, Mario Samonà, Mario Mafai and many others. In the postwar period he is a protagonist of Roman neorealism, immortalizing in his canvases subjects of the people, figures and country scenes of daily life. It is possible to see his works at Rome's National Gallery of Modern Art and in other important public and private collections. In the paintings of the 1930s the artist relied on the manners of the Roman School, presenting an influence from the painting of Scipione and the frequentation of Cagli and Mafai. There followed a period in which the figures, done in earthy tones and pastels, were immersed in a timeless and Arcadian atmosphere. Given his interest in the world of cinema, together with Giuseppe De Santis, a neorealist director as well as a friend of his, he collaborated in 1956 by taking care of the color study, set design and costumes for the film “Days of Love.” He took part in six editions of the Rome Quadriennale from 1943 to 1965, and in four editions of the Venice Biennale from 1948 to 1954. In the 1940s and 1950s, the artist became one of the most acclaimed painters of the social realist current and as a living painter, as he surpassed social realism with his art. Among his deepest interests was the visceral relationship between man, his land, nature and the animal world as well as the gap between nature and progress. These were precisely the years of Italy's enormous industrial development, compounded by economic boom and population growth, thus warning that man's sacred relationship with nature was gradually and painfully breaking down over time. In 1972 he was appointed director of the Brera Academy in Milan, where he remained in office until 1980. Also of great importance is Purificato's activity as a set designer, which culminated in 1970 with the creation of the set and costume design for the Rome Opera House for the performance of the ballet Petruška by Igor′ Stravinsky. He passed away on November 6, 1984, at the age of 69, following a stroke. Some of his works are preserved in the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome. The Piero Della Francesca Art Gallery in Arezzo collaborated directly with the master from the mid-1970s until his death, organizing a solo exhibition (in 1980) and giving the prints one of the artist's finest ever graphic works, a lithograph on stone with 10 passes of color.