Domenico Lazzarini (Viareggio, Italy 1920 - Rio de Janeiro RJ 1987)
Painter, draftsman and teacher.
In the 1940s, he studied with Ottone Rosai (1895 - 1957) and Emilio Vedova (1919 - 2006) in Lucca and Florence, Italy. He showed work in exhibitions in that country, such as the National Exhibition of Pisa in 1946, the Milan Triennial and the Rome Quadriennial, and took part in the 24th Venice Biennale in 1948. He moved to Brazil in 1950 and became a painting teacher at the Escola de Belas Artes de Araraquara [Araraquara School of Fine Arts], São Paulo. In 1954, he was one of the founders of the Escola de Belas Artes de Ribeirão Preto [Ribeirão Preto School of Fine Arts]. Two years later, he received an acquisition prize at the Prêmio Leirner de Arte Contemporânea [Leirner Prize for Contemporary Art] exhibition in São Paulo. He moved to Rio de Janeiro where, in 1961, he taught painting technique at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM/RJ), which also awarded him the Formiplac prize. At the Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna (SNAM) [National Salon of Modern Art], he was granted jury exemption in 1959 and an acquisition prize in 1962. That same year, he won a silver medal at the 11th Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna [São Paulo Salon of Modern Art]. He took part in the Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [São Paulo International Biennial] in 1959 and 1961.
Critical Commentary
Domenico Lazzarini's production during the 1950s, when he arrived in Brazil, and the early 1960s shows an affinity both with the poetics of informal art, regarding the importance of gesture, and with a more constructed abstraction. The latter seems to prevail, visually recalling the work produced by the painter Antonio Bandeira (1922 - 1967) during the same years.
Lazzarini creates structures supported by thin, delicate yet precise lines that cross vertically and horizontally, drawn in black, almost like grids, and that end up delimiting areas at these intersections - areas that are sometimes almost entirely filled with other lines. The planned gesture does not go beyond the canvas support. The areas may take on color, but the tones are subdued, resulting in a uniformity of the final composition. The graphic character of these paintings and their sober appearance stand out. At times, Lazzarini fills one or another minimal area with a more vibrant color, usually choosing red, as in Cataguases (1959) and Abstrato [Abstract] (1961).
A graphic solution close to that of Lazzarini's better-known paintings can also be seen in the India ink drawings he published in the Suplemento Literário [Literary Supplement] of the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo in 1962 and 1963. In these drawings, the composition is somewhat simplified and the illusion of volume becomes more apparent; the lines vary in thickness and there are also curves, practically nonexistent in the paintings. The artist seems to resolve these drawings more quickly, letting the gesture guide the composition more than he allows in the paintings.
After the abstract phase, around 1970, Lazzarini returned to figuration, working with landscapes. These recall European vegetation, as in Ciprestes [Cypresses] (n.d.), and the work of farmers in the fields, as in Colheita [Harvest] (n.d.). In the following years, the artist continued to produce landscapes on the same theme, but opted for a handling that uses soft tones worked through patches of color.
Solo Exhibitions
1960 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria São Luís
1969 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Irlandini
1970 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Irlandini
1971 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria de Arte Internacional
1972 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Irlandini
1972 - Londrina PR - Solo, at the Com-Tour Shopping Center
1973 - Curitiba PR - Solo, at the Banco Cocional
1973 - Recife PE - Solo, at Galeria Vivenda
1974 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Irlandini
1975 - Salvador BA - Solo, at the Pousada do Convento do Carmo
1976 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Domus Galeria de Arte
1977 - São Paulo SP - Pinturas de Lazzarini [Paintings by Lazzarini], at Domus Galeria de Arte
1977 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Domus
1979 - Belo Horizonte MG - Solo, at Galeria Ami
1979 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Lebreton
1979 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Borghese
1981 - Londrina PR - Solo, at Galeria Artenossa
1981 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Borghese
1982 - Porto Alegre RS - Solo, at Galeria Masson
1982 - Porto Alegre RS - Solo, at Símbolo Galeria de Arte
1983 - Vitória ES - Solo, at the Vitória Palace Hotel
1984 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at MC Arte Plásticas
1984 - Recife PE - Solo, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Maria Augusta Galeria de Arte
1985 - Salvador BA - Domenico Lazzarini: pinturas [Domenico Lazzarini: Paintings], at Época Galeria de Arte
Group Exhibitions
1946 - Lucca (Italy) - Exposição de Lucca [Lucca Exhibition]
1947 - Pisa (Italy) - Exposição Nacional de Pisa [National Exhibition of Pisa]
1948 - Lido di Camaiore (Italy) - Takes part in an exhibition, receiving 1st prize
1948 - Milan (Italy) - Trienal de Milão [Milan Triennial]
1948 - Rome (Italy) - Quadrienal de Roma [Rome Quadriennial]
1948 - Venice (Italy) - 24ª Bienal de Veneza [24th Venice Biennale]
1958 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Oito Artistas Contemporâneos [Eight Contemporary Artists], at Funarte. Galeria Macunaíma
1958 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [National Salon of Modern Art]
1959 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [National Salon of Modern Art]
1959 - São Paulo SP - 5ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [5th São Paulo International Biennial], at Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo Sobrinho
1959 - São Paulo SP - Prêmio Leirner de Arte Contemporânea [Leirner Prize for Contemporary Art]
1960 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [National Salon of Modern Art]
1961 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1ª O Rosto e a Obra [1st The Face and the Work], at Galeria Ibeu Copacabana
1961 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Prêmio Formiplac [Formiplac Prize], at MAM/RJ
1961 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [National Salon of Modern Art]
1961 - São Paulo SP - 6ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [6th São Paulo International Biennial], at Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo Sobrinho
1962 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [National Salon of Modern Art] - acquisition prize
1962 - São Paulo SP - 11º Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna [11th São Paulo Salon of Modern Art], at Galeria Prestes Maia - small silver medal
1962 - São Paulo SP - Seleção de Obras de Arte Brasileira da Coleção Ernesto Wolf [Selection of Brazilian Artworks from the Ernesto Wolf Collection], at MAM/SP
1965 - Europe - Arte Brasileira Atual [Current Brazilian Art]
1966 - Lima (Peru) - Festival Americano de Pintura [American Painting Festival]
1967 - Petrópolis RJ - 1º Salão Nacional de Pintura Jovem [1st National Salon of Young Painting], at the Hotel Quitandinha
1985 - São Paulo SP - 100 Obras Itaú [100 Itaú Works], at Masp
1985 - São Paulo SP - As Mães e a Flor na Visão de 33 Pintores [Mothers and the Flower in the Eyes of 33 Painters], at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - A Luz do Silêncio [The Light of Silence], at Centro Cultural Itaipava
Posthumous Exhibitions
1992 - Ribeirão Preto SP - Modernidade/Experimentalismo [Modernity/Experimentalism], at USP. Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Ordem x Liberdade [Order x Freedom], at MAM/RJ
Source: Itaú Cultural
