Numéro 50, 1975

Emilio Scanavino  

Emilio Scanavino (Genoa, 1922 - Milan, 1986) is an Italian painter and sculptor and one of the most important postwar abstract artists. Emilio Scanavino went to the Scuola Magistrale in Genoa and the Liceo Artistico Nicolo Barabino from 1938, and was Mario Calonghi's student.

His first exhibition was held in 1942 at the Salone Romano in Genoa. In Milan, he enrolled in university to study architecture. In 1947, he moved to Paris and got to know numerous artists of the time. He met artists such as Edouard Jaguer, de Wols and Camille Bryen. They have a strong influence on his practice. His style becomes "postcubist", and he has a show in 1948 at the Galleria l'Isola in Genoa, which is the starting point of his career as an abstract painter.

In 1950, he takes part in the XXVth Venice Biennale. In 1951, he has a show at the Apollinaire Gallery in London. He meets Philip Martin, Eduardo Paolozzi and Francis Bacon and is also inspired by them. He is friends with Lucio Fontana, Sergio Dangelo, Enrico Baj, Gianni Dova, Roberto Crippa, Asger Jorn, Karel Appel, Corneille, the CoBrA group and Roberto Matta and Wifredo Lam.

In 1958, he moves to Milan with his family. He meets Alain Jouffroy, Gianpiero Giani, Gillo Dorfles, Roberto Sanesi, and Franco Russoli. He returns to the Ligurian Coast and spends more and more time in his studio in Calice Ligure that he gets in 1962 and that becomes a meeting place, starting in 1970, for many artists such as Belgian Jean Raine of the CoBrA group or Theodore Konig, founder of the Phantomas magazine.

His many notes and photographs allowed in 2005 the publication of the La leggenda degli Artisti di Calice Ligure de Emilio Scanavino & C1. In 1970, he won the grand prize at the Menton festival.