{"id":111710,"date":"2022-08-12T18:32:04","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T17:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/ecomsite\/artisti\/mario-mafai\/"},"modified":"2025-06-05T13:42:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T12:42:53","slug":"mario-mafai","status":"publish","type":"artisti","link":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/artisti\/mario-mafai\/","title":{"rendered":"Mario Mafai"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mario Mafai<\/a> was a major figure of 20th-century Italian art.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Mario
Painting by Mario Mafai<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

La scuola di Via Cavour<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Mario Mafai<\/strong> (Rome 1902-1965) started the Via Cavour School<\/strong>, as Roberto Longhi termed it, in Rome with his wife Antonietta Rapha\u00ebl<\/strong><\/a> and Scipione<\/strong><\/a> (Gino Bonichi).<\/p>\n

Anti-Semitic persecution<\/h2>\n

During the period of anti-Semitic persecution from 1939 to 1943, Mafai and his family were guests in the villa of engineer, collector, and patron Alberto della Ragione in Genoa’s Quarto de Mille neighborhood.<\/p>\n

In this period, their friendship grew stronger.<\/p>\n

Antonietta Rapha\u00ebl made a sculpture of Della Ragione’s mother.<\/p>\n

\"The
The model<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mafai created landscapes almost exclusively of Rome, more based on his inner vision than on reality.<\/p>\n

His views at dusk<\/strong> are marked by a deeply personal, very bright approach to color.<\/p>\n

His main themes included desiccated flowers that he dried himself, which was how he got the nickname Mario of the Flowers<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Rome
Rome landscape 1947<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Demolition<\/h2>\n

Another common theme was demolition<\/strong>, subtly lyrical images of disintegration and decay<\/a> to counter the optimism of the Fascist regime.<\/p>\n

Mario Mafai wrote about the demolitions<\/strong> being carried out by the government in Rome then.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are watching the constant demolition of everything that belonged to the 19th century and I witnessed it when I saw my old house fall, the walls collapsing one by one; Rooms that open momentarily to the light before becoming rubble and dust.\u201d <\/em>Mario Mafai<\/p>\n

The country on the threshold of war, deep anxieties took pictorial form in his Fantasy series.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the last decade of his life, Mafai’s style shifted to abstractionism.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe are watching the constant demolition of everything that belonged to the 19th century and I witnessed it when I saw my old house fall, the walls collapsing one by one; Rooms that open momentarily to the light before becoming rubble and dust.\u201d Mario Mafai<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":111012,"parent":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"tags":[6509],"class_list":["post-111710","artisti","type-artisti","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-scuola-di-via-cavour-en","tags-m"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMario Mafai - Egidi MadeinItaly<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mario Mafai, a 20th-century painter who began the movement the Via Cavour School in Rome with his wife Antonietta Raphael and Scipione.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/artists\/mario-mafai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mario Mafai\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cWe are watching the constant demolition of everything that belonged to the 19th century and I witnessed it when I saw my old house fall, the walls collapsing one by one; Rooms that open momentarily to the light before becoming rubble and dust.\u201d Mario Mafai\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/artists\/mario-mafai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Egidi MadeinItaly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/egidimadeinitaly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-05T12:42:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/v25\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-03-26-11.43.27-2-scaled-e1669894552645.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"779\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/en\\\/artisti\\\/mario-mafai\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/en\\\/artists\\\/mario-mafai\\\/\",\"name\":\"Mario Mafai - Egidi MadeinItaly\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/en\\\/artists\\\/mario-mafai\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/en\\\/artists\\\/mario-mafai\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/v25\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/2022-03-26-11.43.27-2-scaled-e1669894552645.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-12T17:32:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-05T12:42:53+00:00\",\"description\":\"Mario Mafai, a 20th-century painter who began the movement the Via Cavour School in Rome with his wife Antonietta Raphael and Scipione.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/en\\\/artists\\\/mario-mafai\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/en\\\/artists\\\/mario-mafai\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/en\\\/artists\\\/mario-mafai\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/v25\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/2022-03-26-11.43.27-2-scaled-e1669894552645.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/v25\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/2022-03-26-11.43.27-2-scaled-e1669894552645.jpeg\",\"width\":779,\"height\":1024,\"caption\":\"Portrait of boy in blue 1934\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/en\\\/artists\\\/mario-mafai\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mario Mafai\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Egidi MadeinItaly\",\"description\":\"Fine Art\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/egidimadeinitaly.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mario Mafai - Egidi MadeinItaly","description":"Mario Mafai, a 20th-century painter who began the movement the Via Cavour School in Rome with his wife Antonietta Raphael and Scipione.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/artists\/mario-mafai\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mario Mafai","og_description":"\u201cWe are watching the constant demolition of everything that belonged to the 19th century and I witnessed it when I saw my old house fall, the walls collapsing one by one; Rooms that open momentarily to the light before becoming rubble and dust.\u201d Mario Mafai","og_url":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/artists\/mario-mafai\/","og_site_name":"Egidi MadeinItaly","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/egidimadeinitaly\/","article_modified_time":"2025-06-05T12:42:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":779,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/v25\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-03-26-11.43.27-2-scaled-e1669894552645.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/artisti\/mario-mafai\/","url":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/artists\/mario-mafai\/","name":"Mario Mafai - Egidi MadeinItaly","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/artists\/mario-mafai\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/artists\/mario-mafai\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/v25\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-03-26-11.43.27-2-scaled-e1669894552645.jpeg","datePublished":"2022-08-12T17:32:04+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-05T12:42:53+00:00","description":"Mario Mafai, a 20th-century painter who began the movement the Via Cavour School in Rome with his wife Antonietta Raphael and Scipione.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/artists\/mario-mafai\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/artists\/mario-mafai\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/artists\/mario-mafai\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/v25\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-03-26-11.43.27-2-scaled-e1669894552645.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/v25\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-03-26-11.43.27-2-scaled-e1669894552645.jpeg","width":779,"height":1024,"caption":"Portrait of boy in blue 1934"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/artists\/mario-mafai\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mario Mafai"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/","name":"Egidi MadeinItaly","description":"Fine Art","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artisti\/111710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artisti"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/artisti"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111710"},{"taxonomy":"tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}