Abstraction

Oil and collage on canvas
50 x 50 cm

As an engaged painter, Silvano Bozzolini participated in the great movements of his times. In particular, he was a member of the Espace Group, founded in 1951, whose manifesto published in L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui declared its purpose to be the “attainment of a synthesis of the arts by overcoming the traditional dissociation between painting, sculpture and architecture”. The Espace Group’s quests also encompassed social aspects. Asserting that everyone should have access to the visual arts, the Group’s artists gave an outdoor exhibition in Biot in 1954. Silvano Bozzolini was interested in a wide variety of media, including paint, paper and wood. His oeuvre includes illustrations, but also collages. The artist’s initial post-cubist vision evolved toward geometric abstraction, using curves far more than the angles and straight lines that were prevalent at the time. His art would remain true to that aesthetic, driven by simple, dynamic compositions and by the uninhibited use of invigorating colours.