User:Franca Marini/Gualtiero Nativi

Gualtiero Nativi (January 10, 1921 Pistoia – July 2, 1999 Greve in Chianti) was an Italian painter, one of the founder of the Classical Abstractionism in Florence.

Biography
Gualtiero Nativi was a member of the post-war avant-garde movements: in 1945 he founded together with Bruno Brunetti, Fernando Farulli and the poet Alberto Caverni, the revolutionary cultural newspaper Torrente. At that time, the same group that had gathered around the magazine "Torrente" started the innovative movement Arte d'Oggi where Gualtiero Nativi was one of the protagonists, and it is at that time that the homonymous magazine was founded (1947).

In 1950 Gualtiero signed, together with Vinicio Berti, Bruno Brunetti, Alvaro Monnini, and Mario Nuti, the Manifesto of Classical Abstractionism (1950) which gave rise to the movement under the same name. The group of Florentine classical abstractionism, linked to the art group of today, even if short-lived, had, like the contemporary Roman Gruppo Forma 1, a great impact on the culture of that period. Soon, the movement expressly declared itself to be of Marxist ideology. Classic Florentine classicism then proposed "a rigorous geometric purism, to be contrasted to certain lyrical outcomes of abstraction".

After the dissolution of the Classical Abstraction group, Nativi became a member of the Espace Group of Paris in 1953.

The work of Gualtiero Nativi moved from an abstract painting that has its strength in the rhythm, dynamism and originality of the works of the 40s and 50s, to a more compositional rigor, which characterized the classical Florentine abstractionism: extreme and allusive. Enrico Crispolti noted in the work of Gualtiero Nativi “the search for extreme contentment in the construction of relationships, balances, forms and elements in spaces. An extreme will and ability to control that in the preface of the connections of forms and chromatic values expresses a rigor of rationality, a concentration, a morality that goes beyond the confines of the work".

Gualtiero Nativi has won numerous prizes including the Gulf Prize in La Spezia in 1950, the Prize  of the City of Pontedera in 1957, the Purchase Prize of the Provincial Tourism Authority of Ancona in 1960 and the Marche region Prize.

After his death, the archiving of his works was managed by his son Berto and by the Galleria Nozzoli in Empoli, which took care of the publication of the General Catalog.

Exhibitions
Among the various group exhibitions, Nativi participates in 4 editions of the Rome quadrennial, in the 1952 edition of the Venice Biennale, in the edition of the San Paolo International Biennial, in the editions of the City of Pontedera Award over the years 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959. Very important is the exhibition of 1951 “Abstract and concrete art in Italy” held at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Rome, and in 2011 the exhibition “Il Premio tra i Premi”. “Painting in Italy from Futurism to Informal” by the Camec Center of Modern and Contemporary Art in the city of La Spezia, with the theme of the paintings that participated in the Gulf Prize.

There are numerous personal exhibitions held by Gualtiero Nativi, here we cite some of the most significant exhibitions held in institutional spaces: in 1974 an exhibition entitled Gualtiero Nativi was set up at the Municipal Gallery of Contemporary Art in Arezzo. “Ten years: 1964-1974”, In 1978 at the Municipal Gallery of Forte dei Marmi the exhibition with three protagonists “ Cagli, Corrado; Natives, Gualtiero; Santi, Piero <1912-1990>,” in 1982 a large anthology at the Fortress of Santa Barbara in Pistoia “ Nativi: works from 1947 to 1982” curated by Enrico Crispolti, in 1983 in Fiesole the exhibition entitled “Nativi: le structures of the sensitive”, In 1984 “ the anthological exhibition of Gualtiero Nativi” at the Allende center in Sarzana with the patronage of the province of La Spezia , in 1985 “Nativi: anthological exhibition at the Civic Gallery of Modern Art of Gallarate” by Silvio Zanella , in 1988 the Santa Apollonia Museum in Venice and the Palazzetto dell'Arte in Foggia set up two solo shows entitled “Nativi: 40 years of painting, 1947-1987”, in 2007 the exhibition Catania, a tribute to Gualtiero Nativi, 30 works 1960-1980 held in the kitchens of the Benedictine monastery of the University of Catania, in 2010 in Castelfiorentino in the foyer of the theater the exhibition “Gualtiero Nativi: the purity of abstraction”.

Museums and institutional collections
One of his works is kept in the Museo del Novecento in Florence, the museum of Palazzo Fabbroni in Pistoia contains a monographic room dedicated to his works, The Maon di Rende museum preserves a work by Gualtiero Nativi from 1949, the Historical Museum of the resistance of Sant'anna di Stazzema contains his works. Moreover, his works are kept in the modern art gallery of Palazzo Pitti, several self-portraits and drawings are kept in the Uffizi Gallery, the work with which he won the city of Pontedera prize in 1957 is part of the collection of works of art in the municipality of Pontedera, the picture gallery of Palazzo Pianetti in jesi preserves the painting “in Progressione sul rosso from 1982” , the Francesco Podesti civic art gallery at Palazzo Bosdari in Ancona preserves the Tempo Fermo painting with which Gualtiero Nativi won the Purchase Award of the Ancona provincial tourism organization in the Marche Prize in 1960, the Art Museum of the city of Ravenna preserves one of his works of 1978 , in the Remo Brindisi house museum in Comacchio one of his paintings is preserved Cathedral in space, the Luigi Mallè museum in Dronero preserves one of his works Construction of 1948, the Gallarate art museum preserves several of his works, the Camec Center of modern and contemporary art of the city of La Spezia preserves works by Gualtiero Nativi from the core of the Golfo Prize often exhibited in thematic exhibitions.

Three works by Nativi are part of the collection of the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende in Santiago de Chile.