Antonio Papasso

Antonio Papasso (born 1932) is an Italian painter and engraver.

Papasso was born in Florence in 1932, as the second son of Giovanni and Aldina Lollini.

He has a sister, Giovanna.

In 1939–1940, the family moved to Viareggio.

After the war Papasso worked for an electric utility.

In the second half of the 1950s, he set up an appliance store in Viareggio.

His interest in painting started at the beginning of 1968.

He then attended evening classes on art history and decided to become a painter.

In 1970, he moved to Pisa and rented a farm-house, to work on action painting.

He then met members of the new literary avant-garde Gruppo 63 and worked with Edoardo Sanguineti and.

In 1971–1972, he decided to undergo a test inspired by the aphorism "I’ve never seen colors fighting each other" by Picasso.

He painted watercolors and figurative etchings, employing contrasting and harsh colors and signed them with the pseudonym of ANTIGONE.

Some of these works are now in the collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF) – Paris.

Papasso became frustrated with his work and stopped painting after producing a collection of five etchings called Genealogia.

In 1975, while he was printing Genealogia, he chanced on some crumpled paper (papier froissé).

...Papasso), starting from scratch, with a thin sheet of tissue paper crumpled repeatedly with the warmth of the hands, pursues a mode of germinal matter. He would like to add to his work the energy that erupts from its nature ...

In 1978, the first papiers froissé were presented by Claudio Di Scalzo at Galleria 9 colonne in Trento.

In 1979, they were exhibited and introduced by an essay by at Galleria Zarathustra in Milan and again in 1980 at the art gallery Greminger in Genoa.

Alongside etchings and prints, Papasso continued to experience papiers froissé.

In 1981, the historian Gillo Dorfles presented the last papiers froissés in Milan at Galleria Zarathustra together with the collection of original prints entitled Sing,

In the same year he moved to Anguillara Sabazia, on Lake Bracciano, in Rome's north area.

In 1982, Papasso issued a collection of seven color etchings called Respira (Breath) (Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)) accompanied by a triple acrostic by Edoardo Sanguineti, with credits by Riccardo Barletta, Fausto Curi, Luigi Ferrarino and a letter by MoMA.

In 1983, this work was acquired by MoMA.

In 1983, the artist issued three color etchings called Storia (invecchiamento) written by Alfredo Giuliani.

In the same year he produced six etchings Forma Naturae (Archetipi & C) with an essay by Giulio Carlo Argan.

In 1986, he published the collection called Una "mina" nella memoria (A “mine" in the memory) accompanied by the poem Videogramma volteggio (“Videogram-vaulting") by Elio Filippo Accrocca.

In 1989 he exhibited his works at the Charlton gallery in Rome with catalog presented for the second time by Gillo Dorfles.

In 1992, he published a collection of color etchings Promemoria-Pro/memoria accompanied by an essay by Edoardo Sanguineti.

Later he exhibited his works of art at Toninelli-Arte-Moderna in Rome and in 1993 Foire Internationale d'art Contemporain (FIAC) held at the Grand Palais in Paris.

In 1999, he exhibited a retrospective entitled Il colore è mio (The color is mine) in Bracciano.

In 2004, Tommaso Lisa, member of the Italian Studies Department of the University of Florence, introduced Papasso in the book Pretesti Ecfrastici, collaborating with Sanguineti and other artists.

Tommaso Lisa: "PRETESTI ECFRASTICI", University of Florence, Department of Italian Studies, 2004, pp. 34, 196.197, 198 – Soc Ed Fiorentina ISBN 88-87048-93-2

In 2005, Papasso was invited to exhibit a retrospective of his works at the Museo d'Arte Contemporanea La Sapienza University of Rome.

The exhibition was accompanied by an essay, Antonio Papasso – il tutto e il niente (“Antonio Papasso – everything and nothing") edited by Claudio Di Scalzo. In 2006, Papasso was invited to exhibit all of his works from 1975 to 2006 at the Italian Air Force Museum (MUSAM – Vigna di Valle) in Bracciano. The exhibition was accompanied by Papasso's essay, Elogio del leggero (In praise of lightness), together with an appendix and a movie directed by Riccardo Barletta. Sanguineti contributed a poem dedicated to Papasso called Sonetto del foglio volante'' (Sonnet loose sheet).