Carla Accardi

Carla Accardi (9 October 1924 – 23 February 2014) was an Italian abstract painter associated with the Arte Informale and Arte Povera movements, and a founding member of the Italian art groups Forma (1947) and Continuità (1961).

Biography
Born in the city of Trapani in Sicily, Carla Accardi studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Palermo and Florence prior to moving to Rome in 1946. She founded the art group Forma in 1947 with fellow artists Pietro Consagra (1920-2005), Ugo Attardi (1923-2006), Antonio Sanfilippo (1923-1980), Giulio Turcato (1912-1995), Piero Dorazio (1927-2005), Achille Perilli, and Mino Guerrini, an Italian screenwriter, director, actor and painter. Accardi married Sanfilippo in 1949. Work in Forma was inspired by futurism. Forma 1 had their first exhibition in Rome in 1947. Forma later helped lead to the development of movimento arte concreta. Accardi's work became well known in France where the art critic Michel Tapie took an interest in her work.



Work
Accardi's earliest paintings were self-portraits, but her move to Rome prompted more experimental work. In 1946, she joined the Italian avant-garde movement. In the 1960s, Accardi started making her first paintings in black and white, focusing on monochromy, color, and shapes. The inspiration for her black and white paintings came from visiting Paris during her one-woman shows. There the contrasting static and energetic work of Alberto Magnelli and Hans Hartung inspired her to begin painting in black and white. These black and white paintings were referred to as her “Integrazione series”.

She transitioned to vibrant and intense colors in the mid-1960s, with Stella and II Stella (Star I and II). She also began using a clear plastic material called Sicofoil, which she describes as "like something luminous, a mixing and a fluidity with the surrounding environment: perhaps in order to take away the totemic value of the painting." She used this material to make Tendas, or tents of clear plastic, which she adorned with painted forms. After being exposed to these different forms of art, such as black and white painting and Sicofoil, she adopted a greater variety of color once she reverted to canvas painting.

During the late 1970s, she became part of the feminist movement with critic Carla Lonzi. Together, they founded Rivolta femminile in 1970, one of Italy's first feminist groups and publishing houses. Accardi is considered a key member of the Italian avant-garde and her artwork influenced the Arte Povera movement in the late 1960s. Accardi's first solo exhibition in the United States was in 2001 at MoMA PS1.

Known works include: Bianco nero su turchese (1960), Azzurroviolarancio (1962), Bozetto Bronzo (1964), Segni Rosa and Verde (both 1968), Segni Rosa (1971), Per L'Infinito lo Scirocco (1987), Apparenti Tinte (1990), Grigio Rosso (1992), Verde Rosso (1997), Viola Arancio (2005), Blu (2007), Rosso du Grigio (2008), Senza Titulo (2011), L'Enigma dell'ora, Melodie Fluvial and Mistero en forme (2012).

Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions

2007 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1950
 * Galerie Greta Meert; Brussels
 * Macro Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Roma; Rome, Italy
 * Galerie Meert Rihoux; Brussels, Belgium
 * Carla Accardi- Opere recenti, Galleria Astuni; Pietrasanta, Italy
 * Galerie Meert Rioux; Brussels
 * Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Ljubljana; Slovenia
 * Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Paris
 * Carla Accardi, Galleria Pecci; Milan, Italy
 * Triplice Tenda, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center; New York
 * Carla Accardi. Premio Artista dell'anno, Palazzo Crepadona; Belluno
 * Carla Accardi. Premio Artista dell'anno, Galleria Civica; Cortina d'Ampezzo
 * Carla Accardi Disegni, Galleria Santo Ficara; Florence
 * Carla Accardi: Sicofoil, Galleria Massimo Minini; Brescia
 * Carla Accardi: Opere recenti, Galerie Meert; Rihoux, Brussels
 * Carla Accardi: Pietrose distanze, Galleria Astuni; Fano, Pesaro, Urbino
 * Carla Accardi: Triplice Tenda, Kunstmuseum; Bonn
 * Transparences, Studio Simonis; Paris
 * Carla Accardi: Triplice Tenda, Castello di Rivoli; Turin
 * Ambiente Arancio, Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, France
 * Carla Accardi: Opere 1947–1997, Chiesa della Badia Grande e Laboratori Officina; Trapani
 * Carla Accardi, Overbeck Gesellschaft; Lubeck, Germany
 * Galleria Cesare Manso; Pescara, Italy
 * Galleria Vannuci; Pistoia, Italy
 * Atelier del Bosco a Villa Medici, Academie de France; Rome
 * Dove nasce il segno (oeuvres 1953) Studio Simonis; Paris
 * Carla Accardi: Ambiente arancio 1967, Telecarte, Galerie Meert; Rihoux, Brussels
 * Stadtische Galerie; Wolfsburg
 * Galleria Fumagalli; Bergamo
 * Kunstverein; Ludwishafen, Germany
 * Galleria delle Arti; Citta di Castello, Italy
 * Giochi galleggianti e trasparenze, Centro d'Arte Contemporanea Spazio Umano; Milan
 * Una forma d'esistenza, Fumagalli Arte Contemporanea; Bergamo
 * Opere 1954–1993, Galerie Meert; Rihoux, Brussels
 * Carla Accardi. 15 Tempere Galleria Age d'Or; Rome, Italy

Group exhibitions

2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1947
 * Carla Accardi meets Lucio Fontana, Martha Herford; Germany
 * Cenni e Barlumi, Galleria Massimo Minini; Brescia
 * Infinite Space, Carla Accardi e Lucio Fontana. Galleria Sperone Westwater; New York
 * Camere Chambers, Sound Art Museum; Rome
 * Italy made in art – Now, MOCA Shanghai; Shanghai
 * Venezia 1948-1986 - :a scena dell'arte, Peggy Guggenheim Collection; Venice
 * Immaginario Femminile, Gall. Biasutti & Biasutti; Torino
 * Paintings 1955–2004, Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York and Casa italiana Zerrilli Marimo; New York University, USA
 * Segnali italiani dalla collezione d'Arte Contemporanea alla Farnesina, Galleria dell Accademia serba delle Scienze e delle Arti; Belgrado
 * Accardi Turcato. Carte, Galleria Santo Picara; Firenze
 * Forma 1 e I suoi artisti, Riga, Casa delle Terre Nere; Lettonia
 * Capricci, Ex Pinacoteca Comunale; Assisi
 * Accardi castellani Asdruball, Il ritmo dei sedni gall. Santo Picara; Firenze
 * On Paper Carla Accardi, Francesco Impellizzeri, Gall, A.A.M. Architettura Arte Moderna; Rome
 * Da Balla alla Transavanguardia, Triennale; Milan
 * Carla Accardi, Valery Koshlyakov, Sissi, Macro, Rome Italy; Dorf in die Metropole Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden; Baden-Baden, Germany
 * Si adagiarono sparse, Magazzino d'Arte Moderna; Rome
 * Incontri, Galleria Borghese; Rome
 * Galerie Meert Rihoux; Brussels
 * TRE – generazioni a confronto III, L.I. Art Laboratorio Incontri d'Arte; Rome, Italy
 * Camera Italia, Vistamare associazione culturale; Pescara
 * Visita Guidata, Calcografia Nazionale; Rome
 * Artisti italiani del XX Secolo alla Farnesina Ministero degli Affari Esteri; Rome
 * Italiens Klassische Moderne, Carla Accardi, Piero Dorazio, Achille Perilli, Frankfurter Westen Galerie; Frankfurt
 * Belvedere italiano, 1945–2001. Linee di tendenza dell'arte contemporanea; Warsaw
 * 1989- Berliner Mauer Kunst fur ein Europa im Aufbruch, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum/Fondation Corboud Josef-Haubrich, Kunsthalle Koln; Cologne
 * Miracoli a Milano 1955-1965 Artisti Gallerie Tendenze, Comune di Milano, Museo della Permanente; Milan
 * Wollways, Fondation Pistoletto; Paris
 * Novacento Arte e Storia in Italia, Scuderie Papali al Quirinale; Rome
 * Verso Sud, Palazzo Doria Pamphilj; Valmontone, Rome
 * Giganti, Scavi dei Fori Imperiali; Rome
 * Biennale de La Havane
 * Forma 1 e I suoi artisti, Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea; Rome
 * Artisti Collezionisti, Palazzo delle Papesse Centro Arte Contemporanea; Siena
 * L'ultimo Disegno del 1999, Zerynthia Associazione per l'Arte Contemporanea; Rome
 * Minimalia, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center; New York
 * Perhe?, presentazione del numero 1 della rivista, Fossa dei serpenti; Milan
 * Fondo Oro, Accardi, Gilardi, Ontani, Paolini, Salvatori, Salvo, Galleria Santo Ficara; Florence
 * Art Club 1945–1964, la linea astratta, Basilica Palladian di Vicenza; Vicenza
 * Arte giovane italiana; Prague, Czech Republic