In order to place Pardini’s body of work in its cultural perspective, one cannot overlook his presence at the Rome Quadriennale between 1943 and 1965, or at the Venice Biennale in 1948 and 1950, the most fervid years of these institutions, when the commissioners were more interested in the quality of the works rather than the experimental submissions dictated by the art market or the moves by the art dealers. In these years, Pardini was able to meditate on the fundamental writings of the so-called avant-gardists – presented in essay form throughout the mid-20th century – and he above all tried to imbue himself with an autonomous language when revisiting the historical avant-garde.
At the tail end of the 1940s, the new artistic movements tried to quell expressive presumptions of the abstract followers, and to give back the evidence and legibility to art that seemed to have been annulled by the hunt for the new at any cost, or figurative poetry for unfounded reasons. But in the crucial years of the war, every artist who believed in the value of the Resistance and in civilian commitment had exhibited in their studio a reproduction of Picasso’s Guernica, and had dreamed of meeting this artist who, even after having achieved economic stability, never stopped being talked about not only for his indomitable anti-conformism and his irreverent intervention, but also for his fertile creativity and the humanitarian content of some of his works.
PIERO PACINI
He was born in Tuoro sul Trasimeno (Perugia) on 14 April, 1936, and currently lives in Florence.
After having attended an arts high school, he taught history of art in high schools in Cortona and Castiglion Fiorentino.
In the mid-sixties, he moved to Florence definitively, mainly dedicating his professional life to being an art critic.
His numerous articles have been published in the most authoritative daily newspapers and art publications. He is the author of many books and essay collections, including:
Severini, Sades-Sansoni, Florence, 1966; Gino Severini, Incisioni e Disegni, La Nuova Italia, Florence, 1977; Moulin Rouge & Caf’ Couc’, Florence, 1989; Lorenzo Viani, Florence, 1987.
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