"Untitled"

CLAUDIO CINTOLI

Claudio Cintoli was born in Imola in 1965. A graduate of the Liceo Scientifico “A. Righi” in Rome, in 1955 Claudio Cintoli enrolled in the Faculty of Architecture (Rome), leaving it the following year to enroll in the Accademia delle Belle Arti (Rome), to undertake studies in Painting. In 1956 he executed a series of drawings published in the collection of poems by the Recanati poet Remo Stortoni, entitled “Pueta a braccio.” In '55 he obtained an award-recognition at the Roman exhibition Giovani Pittori. In '56 he obtained a scholarship to Paris. On his return to Rome he is awarded a prize in an exhibition at the Accademia delle Belle Arti and participates in the Taccuino delle Arti and Premio Biennale Scipione exhibitions in Macerata. In 1958 his first solo exhibition was held in Recanati, at the Palazzo Comunale. On Saturday, November 22 of the same year, his first solo exhibition opened in Rome, at Galleria La Medusa on Via del Babuino, presented by Eugenio Battisti and reviewed in the newspaper Avanti! (Rome, December 20, 1958). In the same year he perticipated in the exhibition L'Art du XX siècle in Charleroi, Belgium. From '59 to '60 he was in Germany. Here he participated in the exhibitions Neue Prospektiven der jungen Italianischen Mahlrei and Moderne Italiener. On April 14, 1960 an exhibition entitled Opere Recenti opened in Rome. He participated in it together with the painter Sandro Trotti (Galleria La Medusa, Rome). In 1961 he participated in the exhibitions Premio città di Marsala and Premio città di Spoleto. On January 23, 1962 Lorenza Trucchi presented an exhibition of the artist's work at Galleria Il Segno in Rome, in which Cintoli exhibited a series of studies from Leonardo and Picasso. The exhibition was a success and gained critical attention. In 1965 he participated in the IX Quadriennale, and in '66 he was at the exhibition Le dimensioni del linguaggio figurale oggi curated by Galleria Leonardo in Naples. In the same year he participated in Perspectives 2 in the cities of Rome, Ferrara, Naples and Arezzo. Between '65 and '68 he is in New York. During his American stay Cintoli fills three Diaries in which he collects photos, sketches, drawings and notes. The middle of the 1960s is the fulcrum of Cintoli's brief but intense career, who expressed all his explosive and multifaceted creativity in this decade. This is the period in which he realised some of his most famous projects, such as the mural painting Giardino per Ursula created for the Piper Club in Rome, a nightclub that was a true icon of the 1960s. In 1967 he participated in the VII Biennial of Art in San Benedetto del Tronto . In the same year he participated in the following exhibitions: Les dimensions du reel, in Belgrade, at the Du Foyer de Jeunesse gallery; Tendenze oggi in Italia, in Palermo, at the Il Chiodo gallery; Il rinnovamento delle arti visive, at the Il Girasole gallery in Rome. In 1968 he participated in the collective Alternativa Attuali in L'Aquila; in the same year in Rome he inaugurated his first solo exhibition at the Due Mondi gallery. In these exhibitions he exhibited the works conceived in New York: the series of Gardens, Flying Birds, and some works on the Vietnam tragedy. Cintoli is featured in the catalog dedicated to the Third International Biennial of Young Painting titled January '70 behaviors projects mediations in the Italian section with a photo of his Spoon with Teeth and a writing dated 1967. Between '70 and '71 he painted, with the help of his brother Vittorio Cintoli, a series of murals in the hallways of the Viale Vasco de Gama housing projects in Ostia, entitled Le Sabbie. Brother Vittorio also collaborated with the artist on works in the series Nodi, Peso Morto, Chiodi Fissi, between '70 and '71. From April 15 to May 14, 1971, Cintoli had a solo exhibition at the Cadario Gallery in Milan (presentation in the catalog by Vittorio Rubiu). During the same period, he made a series of chromed steel objects (Pesci freddi and Puntelliti) exhibited at the Multipli group show in Fano in August. In October an exhibition entitled 1972 opened in Brescia at the Acme Art Studio gallery. Along with this extrapictorial activity he implements his great love for drawing, the technique of which he has always refined. Nel 1972 partecipa alla X Quadriennale di Roma intitolata La ricerca estetica dal 1960 al 1970 alla galleria GAP di Roma. L’anno 1975 è stato molto ricco di esposizioni che lo hanno visto impegnato a Bologna, Roma, Milano, Firenze, Bari, Ferrara e Fano. Il 28 marzo 1978 muore prematuramente a Roma e nell’estate dello stesso anno la Biennale di Venezia gli rende omaggio esponendo alcune tra le sue opere più significative, tributando a Cintoli una retrospettiva all'interno della rassegna.