Edmondo Bacci was born in Venice on July 21, 1913.

He studied at the Academy of Venice under Ettore Tito and then with Virgilio Guidi, who was a great teacher for him. He taught him something fundamental: light is hidden in things and the artist’s job is to bring out that light and put it on the canvas. Light is the soul of things. 

He studied the works of the past with dedication, especially the luminous colorism of Bellini, Giorgione, and Tiepolo.

In 1945, he held his first solo show at Carlo Cardazzo’s Galleria del Cavallino. 

He took part for the first time at the Venice Biennale in 1948, and in 1951, he exhibited at the first Genoa Biennale and the 5th Quadriennale of Rome.

Two years later, in Venice, he took part in an exhibition of the Spatialism movement, which was founded by Lucio Fontana. He went on to regularly take part in Spatialism exhibitions, including “Espacialismo” at the Bonino Gallery in Buenos Aires in 1956.

In 1955, he held an important solo exhibition at the prestigious Galleria del Cavallino. 

One of the most important encounters of his life happened in this period, that with Peggy Guggenheim, who was enthralled by his painting. She became an active supporter, presenting his work to the American public through exhibitions and donations. 

He held his first solo exhibition, which was a big success, in the United States at the Seventy-Five Gallery in New York.

In 1957, Cardazzo had him show at the Galleria del Naviglio in Milan and the Galleria d’Arte Selecta in Rome, and the Galleria La Cittadella in Ascona, Switzerland.

In the same year, he was part of the “Between Space and Earth” exhibition at the historic Marlborough Gallery in London.

It was so successful that in 1958, the Venice Biennale invited him to exhibit in a personal room where Bacci showed several paintings from the Avvenimenti (Events) series. 

In 1959, he won a prize from the Municipality of Venice for his participation in the Third Biennial of Contemporary Italian Engraving.

He exhibited at the Drian Gallery in London in 1961, . In Germany, he took part in the Neue italienische kunst” at Galerie 59 in Aschaffenburg, and he exhibited at the Frank Perls Gallery in Beverly Hills the following year.

In 1974, he became the chair of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. 

Bacci died in Venice on October 16, 1978.

This is the wonderful story of a great artist who had an unexpected quirk: his art became beloved in much of the world without him ever setting foot outside his beloved Venice.

In 2023, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection put on an anthological exhibition for him curated by Chiara Bertora. 

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