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Enrico Crispolti
Milano dicembre 1964 foto G.Guerreschi.jpg
Born Enrico Crispolti
(1933-04-18)18 April 1933
Rome, Kingdom of Italy
Died 8 December 2018(2018-12-08) (aged 85)
Rome
Occupation art critic

Enrico Crispolti (born April 18, 1933 – died December 8, 2018) was an important Italian expert in art. He was an art critic, which means he wrote about art. He was also a curator, someone who organizes art shows. Plus, he was an art historian, studying art from the past.

From 1984 to 2005, he was a professor at the University of Siena in Italy. He taught about the history of contemporary art, which is art from recent times. He also led a special school for art history there. Before that, he taught at art schools in Rome and Salerno.

Crispolti wrote many important books about famous artists. These books are called catalogues raisonnés. They list all the known artworks by artists like Enrico Baj, Lucio Fontana, and Renato Guttuso. He passed away in Rome in 2018.

Organizing Art Shows

Enrico Crispolti was a very busy curator. He organized many art exhibitions and events. A curator chooses the artworks and plans how they will be shown.

Early Exhibitions

Crispolti helped create a series of shows called Alternative Attuali in L'Aquila, Italy. These happened four times between 1962 and 1968. He also organized three shows focusing on metal and ceramic art in Gubbio.

He also worked on the Venice Biennale, a huge international art show. For example, he helped with sections like Ambiente come sociale in 1976. He also showed new Soviet art in 1977 and explored "Megastructural Imagination" in 1978.

Other shows he organized included "Six Italian Painters" in Arezzo in 1967. He also curated "The imaginary Organic" in Florence in 1992. Later, he put together "Art and State" in Trieste and Trento in 1997.

Focus on Futurism

Crispolti was especially interested in Futurism. This was an exciting art movement from the early 1900s. He organized the first big show about Giacomo Balla, a key Futurist artist, in Turin in 1963.

He curated many large exhibitions about Futurism. These included "Futurism and Fashion" in Milan in 1988. He also brought Futurist art to museums in Germany and Spain in 1990.

His Futurist shows traveled to many places. There was a big exhibition in Tokyo in 1992. He also organized "Futurism and the South of Italy" in Naples in 1996. Later, he curated "The Great Themes of Futurism" in Genoa and Milan in 1998.

Crispolti continued to explore Futurism in the 2000s. He curated "Futurism" in Rome in 2001. He also put together "From Futurism to Abstraction" in Rome in 2002.

Shows for Modern Artists

Crispolti also organized special shows for many individual artists. These are called retrospectives, which look back at an artist's whole career.

He curated shows for Mauro Reggiani in Turin in 1973. He also organized several exhibitions for Corrado Cagli in the 1980s. Another artist he featured was Renato Guttuso, with shows in Reggio Emilia and Salerno in 1983.

He helped show the works of Pietro Cascella in Siena in 1985. Later, he curated a show for Enrico Prampolini in Rome in 1992. He also organized important exhibitions for Francesco Somaini in Milan in 1997.

One of his major retrospectives was for Lucio Fontana. This show traveled to Rome, Milan, and Buenos Aires in 1998-1999. He also curated a show for Mario Ceroli in Bari in 2003.

Selected Books and Writings

Enrico Crispolti wrote many books and articles about art. These publications helped people understand modern and contemporary art better.

  • Carriera "barocca" di Fontana (2004) – About the artist Lucio Fontana.
  • Mario Ceroli (2003) – A book about the artist Mario Ceroli.
  • Fathi Hassan (2002) – About the artist Fathi Hassan.
  • Come studiare l'arte contemporanea (1997) – A guide on how to study contemporary art.
  • Storia e critica del Futurismo (1986) – A history and critique of the Futurist art movement.
  • Il Futurismo e la moda. Balla e gli altri (1986) – About Futurism and fashion, including artist Giacomo Balla.
  • Renato Guttuso (1983) – A book about the artist Renato Guttuso.
  • Lucio Fontana (1974) – Another book about Lucio Fontana.
  • Enrico Baj (1973) – A book about the artist Enrico Baj.
  • L'Informale. Storia e poetica (1971) – About the Informel art movement.
  • Il mito della macchina e altri temi del Futurismo (1969) – About the myth of the machine and other Futurist themes.
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