Alberto Burri (Città di Castello, March 12, 1915 – Nice, February 13, 1995) was an Italian painter and artist.
He graduated in medicine in 1940. Actively participated in the Second World War as a medical officer and was taken prisoner of the Allies in Tunisia in 1943 and send in the prison camp of Hereford, Texas. Here he started to paint. He returned to Italy in 1946: he moved to Rome and devoted himself to painting. In 1947 and 1948 held his first solo exhibitions in Rome (Galleria La Margherita). In 1951 he helped to found the group’s “Origin” with Mario Ballocco, Giuseppe Capogrossi and Ettore Colla, and the following year he exhibited at the Galleria dell’Obelisco, the series Neri e Muffe (Blacks and Molds). Since 1950, the Bags are relevant, up to predominate in solo shows that, after Rome, now held in various American and European cities: it is the beginning of an international success. At the turn of the sixth decade, he presents the series of the Woods, the Combustions, and the Irons. At the beginning of the sixties appear the first recapitulations anthologies that, with the new contribution of the series Plastics, will become real historical retrospectives in Darmstadt, Rotterdam, London and Paris (1967-1972).
The ’70s showed a progressive depletion of the technical and formal solutions to the monumental, from the Cretti (land and glue) to the Cellotex (compressed for industrial use). Later Burri realizes complex cyclical organisms made of a polyphonic structure.
Alberto Burri, artist recognized worldwide, received numerous awards and his work is part of the more prestigious collections.
The full biography is available on the website of the foundation Burri: www.fondazioneburri.org)
Burri: la pittura, irriducibile presenza - Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venezia
La ferita della bellezza. Alberto Burri e il Grande Cretto di Gibellina - MAG Museo Alto Garda, Riva del Garda
Alberto Burri – Cicli scelti dell’opera grafica - Vistamarestudio, Milano
Burri come Burri - Jus Museum, Napoli
Tutta l’opera grafica di Burri, Ex Seccatoi del Tabacco – Museo Burri, Città di Castello
Burri I Cretti - Riso - Museo d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia, Palermo
Alberto Burri. Das Trauma der Malerei - K21, Dusseldorf
Alberto Burri: The Trauma of Painting - Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY
Alberto Burri: Grafica - Luxembourg & Dayan, New York City, NY
Alberto Burri - Grafica - Luxembourg & Dayan London, London
Alberto Burri - Cellotex - Pinacoteca Comunale D\'Arte Contemporanea Giovanni Da Gaeta, Gaeta, LT
Alberto Burri - Black Cellotex - Luxembourg & Dayan, New York City, NY
Cellotex - Galleria dello Scudo, Verona
Alberto Burri - Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London
From real substance to enchanting form - Palazzo Panizza, Turin
Combustione: Alberto Burri and America - Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA
Alberto Burri: Multiplex / Cellotex - Folini Arte, Chiasso
Alberto Burri - Luxembourg & Dayan, New York City, NY
Alberto Burri - Cellotex: La Strategia della Materia - ModenArte - Modena, Modena
Burri & Burri - Galleria Tega, Milan
Alberto Burri - La Triennale di Milano. Design Museum, Milan
Alberto Burri - de Pury & Luxembourg, Zurich
Alberto Burri, 29 November 2007 – 19 January 2008, Mitchell-innes & Nash, New York, USA
Burri Opere 1949-1994. La misura dell’equilibrio, 8 September – 2 December 2007, Fondazione Magnani Rocca, Parma, Italy
Alberto Burri: La Sezione Aurea dei Cellotex, 25 Novembre 2006 – 31 Gennaio 2007, Fondazione Luciana Matalon, Milano
Alberto Burri, 14 Marzo – 29 Maggio 2006, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spagna
I Cellotex nell’autobiografia di Burri, 26 – 30 Gennaio 2006, Galerie Sapone, Arte Fiera, Bologna
Alberto Burri, gli artisti e la materia 1945-2004, 12 Marzo 2005 – 28 Febbraio 2006, Scuderie Papali al Quirinale, Roma
Alberto Burri, 20 Ottobre 2003 – Settembre 2005, Foyer dell’Auditorium in Roma
I “neri” di Burri, 19 Luglio – 14 Settembre 2003, Palazzo Liceo Saracco e spazio Ex Caimano, Acqui Terme
Burri, 15 Novembre 2001 – 7 Gennaio 2002, Chiostri di San Domenico, Reggio Emilia
Burri inedito, 23 Giugno – 19 Novembre 2000, Città di Castello, Perugia
Alberto Burri, 5 Giugno – 20 Agosto 2000, Minicipal Museum of Art di Toyota, Giappone