Emilio Scanavino painting

In Emilio Scanavino's work, the most recognizable, recurring motif is the knot as a visual tangle, a collectionof matter, and a condensation of tensions. It serves as an effective metaphor for the human existential condition. Emilio Scanavino is one of the leading artists of European informal painting. Emilio Scanavino, Italian Painter and Ceramist (Genoa 1922-Milan 1986). He started out in figurative expressionism (1945-1950).  After the war, in 1947, he saw and studied Picasso's works in Paris and witnessed the rise of Art Informel.  In 1951 he met Bacon, Sutherland, Eduardo Paolozzi, and Matta in London and it was an extremely formative experience.  In the 1950s, Emilio Scanavino joined the group "I sette del Numero" of Galleria Numero in Florence, along with fellow famous painter Rocco Borella.

Emilio Scanavino and Ceramics 

 In 1951 and 1952 Scanavino got interested in ceramics.

 The Tangle 

Influenced by his father’s theosophical experiences, he developed his exploration of marks and every line takes on symbolic, metaphysical meaning and the images become ritualistic, almost medium-like in their connotations. “I construct with marks but it's not automatic. Informal art tends to be random, but my art doesn't rely on chance.” Emilio Scanavino

The Style of Emilio Scanavino's Works 

Emilio Scanavino said his tangles were a means to escape the advancing darkness, anchor points to help us not leave everything behind.  The many critics who have written about the artist have used his ubiquitous iconographic marks to decipher his work. While his tangles of lines have placed him among mark-making Informal artists, contemporary critics argue that Scanavino's work is about more than that. 

Exhibitions and Awards 

• He was at the Venice Biennale in 1950, 1954, and 1958  when he won the Prampolini Prize. In 1960 he had his own room there,  and in 1966 he won the Pininfarina Prize.

• He won the Spoleto Prize, the Sassari Prize, the Valsesia Prize, and the Lignano Prize.
• Scanavino, the Best-Known Paintings-H2
• Rituale (Ritual), 1954, oil; and Immagine (Image), 1963, oil on cardboard, MART, Domenico Talamoni Collection
• Other works are preserved at CAMeC - the Center for Modern and Contemporary Art in La Spezia
• The works by Emilio Scanavino in our product catalog include a painting from 1964  archived and authenticated by the Scanavino archive (external link https://www.archivioscanavino.it/it)

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