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Carlo Pittore (May 14, 1943 in Queens, New York - July 17, 2005 in Bowdoinham, Maine) was an American painter known for his advocacy for the role of artists in civic life, his passion for figurative arts, and his seminal contributions to mail art.

Early Years
Carlo Pittore was born Charles Stanley in Queens, New York, May 14, 1943, the son of Stanford and Estelle Stanley. After graduating from Tufts University in 1966 with a degree in English, he discovered a passion for painting that defined the rest of his life.

Middle Years
Carlo studied painting first at the School of the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, 1963-66; and subsequently at Portland School of Art, 1969, where he was awarded an honorary BFA in 2000 and an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 2005; Chelsea College of Art in London, 1970; Accademia di Belle Arte in Rome, 1971-73; and the Brooklyn Museum Art School, where he received the Max Beckmann Scholarship in Advanced Painting in 1977-78. In 1975, Carlo Pittore was a founding member of the Union of Maine Visual Artists and remained one of Maine’s most dedicated art activists. From 1980 to 1986, he directed La Galleria dell’Occhio, the first art gallery in New York’s East Village. And from 1987 until his passing, he gave lessons and held life drawing sessions at the Academy of Carlo Pittore in his Bowdoinham studio, where his passion for painting inspired dozens of emerging artists.

Carlo Pittore originally came to Maine in 1968 as Charles Stanley, the writer. He lived in the yurt community on Priscilla Berry’s Merrymeeting Farm and, after becoming a committed painter, set up the studio that eventually became his home in the farm’s former chicken processing barn. It was while living and studying in Italy that Charles Stanley became Carlo Pittore (Charlie the Painter), a name the children in the hilltown of Montecelio called the young American artist.

Carlo was well-known within the international mail art community for his joyously iconoclastic postcards and stamps. He was well-known in Maine as one of the co-founders of the Union of Maine Visual Artists and never missed an opportunity to champion the cause of artistic freedom, whether it was fighting against entry fees for juried art shows or protesting the censorship of art, his own and that of others.

As a painter, Carlo created a prodigious body of classically inspired portraits and nudes, painting human flesh with a raw power that was at once beautiful and disturbing.

“These are not bodies,” he said of his figurative paintings. “They are intimate conversations. I paint the body, but I am trying to paint the soul.”

A man of great passion and loyalty, Carlo Pittore gathered about him a large circle of friends who will miss the birthday cards he mailed religiously, his long, impassioned letters written in black ink in his bold, clear handwriting, his joyously explosive laughter, and his uncompromising approach to art, politics and life. “I never painted for anyone other than myself,” he said proudly, adding, “I loved being a painter.”

Death and Legacy
Colorful Maine painter Carlo Pittore, 62, of Bowdoinham died peacefully at his home in Bowdoinham on Sunday afternoon, July 17, after a battle with cancer. As Carlo’s final days approached, the establishment of a non-profit foundation for the dual purpose of preserving his art and supporting figurative art and artists was completed.