Antonio Sanfilippo

Giuseppe Sanfilippo was born in Partanna, Italy in 1923 and passed away in Rome, Italy in 1980. He completed his artistic training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence before settling in Rome in 1946. In 1947, Sanfilippo signed the manifesto of Forma 1 with Accardi, Attardi, Consagra, Dorazio, Guerrini, Perilli, Turcato and Maugeri, and participated in group exhibitions from 1948 to 1951. Throughout the 1950s, Sanfilippo held solo exhibitions in avant-garde galleries such as the Age d’Or and Schneider in Rome, the Cavallino in Venice, and the Canal in Milan. He also began to exhibit abroad in New York, Osaka, Brussels, Lausanne, Pittsburgh, and London, receiving positive reviews from critics such as Marchiori, Vivaldi, Ponente, Serpan, and Tapié.

Sanfilippo exhibited in the Venice Biennale in 1948, 1954, 1964, and 1966 with a personal room, and also participated in the exhibition Abstract and Concrete Art at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome in 1951. In the 1960s, Sanfilippo's painting gained widespread recognition both in Italy and abroad, with important exhibitions held at the New Vision Centre Gallery in London in 1961, the Arc d’Alibert in Rome in 1964, 1966, and 1969, and the Naviglio in Milan in 1965. He also exhibited in Chicago, Boston, Paris, Bern, Turin, Bari, Bologna, and Florence.

Sanfilippo's last show was a 1971 exhibition curated by Vivaldi and held at Editalia in Rome. In 1980, the year of his death, the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome held a large retrospective exhibition in his honor.