Roberto Montanari (original) (raw)

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Italian painter

Roberto Montanari (Ravenna, July 19, 1937 – Vicenza, August 10, 2017) was an Italian painter. Known as “El Pintor de Los Toros,” he painted mostly Spanish bulls and landscapes and he was a pupil of Salvador Dalí. He held over 300 exhibitions. In 1970, 1971 and 1972 he exhibited with Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalì.

He is included in the cultural heritage of Emilia-Romagna and Italy[1] and has pictures in several museums, such as Pinacoteca comunale di Faenza [it].,[2] the Casa Giorgione [it][3][4] in Castelfranco Veneto, and the Gallery of Contemporary Figurative Arts in the Vatican.[_failed verification_]

Early life and education

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Roberto Montanari was born on July 19, 1937, in Ravenna, Italy.

After the Academy of Fine Arts of Ravenna, in the early Sixties, he went to study the Impressionists in France, but the ones who continued to fascinate him were the Spanish painters of the twentieth century, especially Picasso, Mirò and Dalì. For this reason he moved to Madrid, where he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and where he met Salvador Dalì of whom he was a great admirer during his entire life. He met the bullfighter Gitanillo de Triana II, who was fascinated by the drawings of Montanari bulls and he named him “El Pintor de Los Toros.”

After a few years, he came back to Italy and married a fellow academy student, Margherita, in Bologna. In 1967 they moved to Ravenna where they opened an art gallery that they called "The Cathedral" and the gallery also had several other painters beside Montanari.

In those following years Roberto Montanari also began to hang out with friends such as the writer Pier Paolo Pasolini, the painter Antonio Barrera and other intellectuals of the time.

A few years later Montanari moved to Vicenza, the city of the architect Andrea Palladio. He received help from his friend Hector Puricelli who in those years coached the Lanerossi Vicenza.

In 1972 he opened up another art gallery, this time by himself, which he called "El Matador", where it was placed a plaque in his memory [5][6][7] and which became the cultural center of the city, since he periodically organized meetings with always different characters to connect art with sport, music, theater and cinema.

It is in one of these occasions that Montanari's friend and a film director, Sergio Leone, stated that he was going to shoot the movie “Once upon a time in America.”[8]

In 1976 the weekly magazine "Oggi" asked Roberto Montanari to do what would be the last interview of the Italian press to Salvador Dalí, who in those years was rarely interviewed. "El Pintor de los Toros” accepted but on the condition that he was a journalist friend of his and not an art critic to do the interrogation and for this reason a different and informal report was made of Dalí. The Weekly "Oggi" thanked Montanari in public.[9]

In Vicenza he met the painter Virgilio Guidi with whom he had a strong intellectual friendship and who came to define Roberto Montanari "the painter of bulls and light,” outside the existing categories but within the great surface of expressive possibilities.”

In the Eighties he continued his activity with several exhibitions and he met other painters, such as Franco Gentilini, Domenico Purificato, Pietro Annigoni and Ernesto Treccani and Roberto Sebastián Matta. Some of them also participated in charities organized by Montanari himself to restore ancient monuments, to help earthquake victims, the poor, Chernobyl children etc.

In 1981 Roberto Montanari suffered a brain tumor that was damaging his eyesight and he was operated and after several therapies he painted again and from 1982 to 1992 various monographies were published.[10]

On November 20th 1985 he was invited by Pope John Paul II to which he presented the painting "La Grande Via Crucis.” He traveled to the Vatican on May 7, 1986, with the American singer James Brown and his wife Adrienne Rodríguez to deliver the oil "The Descent of Christ.”[11] [12] He returned a third time, on February 10, 1988, and presented to the pope the work "Virgen de Macarena" with the bullfighter Dámaso González.[13]

In 1990, the Verona City Council invited Montanari to represent Spain in the World Cup and the painter decided to present a series of work with the title "Spain to Verona" in which he inserted Spanish subjects into Veronese landscapes.

In 2003 Montanari had a stroke that paralysed his eyes and on that occasion doctors said that he would not survive that but after several operations he rose again and started to paint again.

In 2004 he was appointed president of the Critics Commission of the Veneto Region for the academy "Antonio Canova" which he led for three years until 2007.

In 2004, on the occasion of the “Dell'Arte e del Lavoro" Award, Poste Italiane created a philatelic cancellation with a work by Roberto Montanari.[14]

In 2008 he was elected artistic director for the "Michelangelo Buonarroti Award” in Rome "for his remarkable artistic and cultural talent".[15]

On July 19, 2017, Roberto Montanari was invited by the mayor of Vicenza at Palazzo Trissino for a tribute and on that occasion the painter donated to his adopted city the painting "El Toro en el Encierro" of 1997.[16]

Other artistic activities

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In the second half of the Seventies Montanari used drawings of his depicting "El encierro de San Fermin" and bulls to make costumes, such as scarves, T-shirts and dresses and also curtains. In addition, in the same period he drew the firm for a fashion house of the time: "Simon.”

In the Eighties he painted crockery with the theme of the bull and made pure silk ties with drawings of Andalusian streets and flamenco dancers.

In 1994 Roberto Montanari published the monograph "110 e lode”.. Profili di Roberto Montanari “The Bulls Painter.”[17][18]

He lived between Spain and Italy until his death on August 10, 2017, on the "Night of San Lorenzo.” It was an inexpiable death that even doctors didn't get an answer to. What is thought is that Roberto Montanari, at 80 years old, had "let" himself die because he felt unable to paint as he did once. In fact, painting was a necessity for him and he lived because his bulls lived. He used to say: «I am like the bulls I paint, I always stand up to death.”

In July 2018, after less than a year of his death, the City Council of Estepona decided to dedicate a citizen road to him.[19][20]

On March 16, 2019, the Vicenza City Council organized a concert at Palazzo Chiericati in his memory with the title "A travel to Spain of painter Roberto Montanari" with a film about the life of the artist and some of his work exhibited alongside those of the Tiepolo.[21][22]

Roberto Montanari is buried in the monumental cemetery of Vicenza.

  1. ^ "Cultura Italia: Montanari Roberto". www.culturaitalia.it. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  2. ^ "Meriggio". bbcc.ibc.regione.emilia-romagna.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  3. ^ "STUDIO MONDI DIPINTI ANTICHI, MUSEO CASTELFRANCO VENETO". studiomondi.altervista.org. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  4. ^ "Roberto Montanari". www.museocastelfrancoveneto.tv.it. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  5. ^ "Corriere del Veneto". PressReader. Archived from the original on 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  6. ^ srl, Teleradio Diffusione Bassano. "VIALE MILANO, ARTE E MEMORIA ANTIDO". www.reteveneta.it. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  7. ^ Purgatorio, Giuseppe (2020-05-28). "Vicenza ricorda Roberto Montanari, "el pintor de los toros". Un'occasione per riqualificare il quadrilatero di viale Milano". VicenzaPiù. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  8. ^ "Sergio Leone girerà a maggio "C'era una volta in America"". Il Giornale di Vicenza 21st October 1976.
  9. ^ Scaglia, Fabrizio. "Io sono l'idea platonica di un lavabo". OGGI Year XXXII, n.30 26 July 1976: 35–36–37–38.
  10. ^ Roberto Montanari : el pintor de los toros (in Italian). 1986.
  11. ^ Brown, James (2005). I Feel Good:A Memoire of a Life of a Soul. Penguin. ISBN 978-0451213938.
  12. ^ "James Brown Meets the Pope". Jet. 1986-07-28.
  13. ^ Gutiérrez, Carlos; Sanchez Robles, José (1994). Dámaso, Siempre: La Despedida. Diputación de Albacete. p. 285. ISBN 84-605-1981-3.{{[cite book](/wiki/Template:Cite%5Fbook "Template:Cite book")}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ "Annulli 2004 Italia - 13/10/2004". www.fsfi.it. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  15. ^ "Accademia Antonio Canova". 2019-01-07. Archived from the original on 2019-01-07. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  16. ^ "Oggi il sindaco ha ricevuto l'artista Roberto Montanari "El pintor de los toros"". Comune di Vicenza (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  17. ^ Montanari, Roberto <1937-> (2020-05-18). "110 e lode... Profili di Roberto Montanari "el pintor de los toros" / [presentazione di Paolo Mosca; prefazione di Valentina Polati!". opac.sbn.it (in Italian). Paolo <1943-2014> Mosca, Valentina Polati. Retrieved 2020-05-20.{{[cite web](/wiki/Template:Cite%5Fweb "Template:Cite web")}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ "Catalogo Biblioteca Baratta".
  19. ^ "ESTEPONA DEDICA UNA VIA AL PITTORE ITALIANO ROBERTO MONTANARI". ambmadrid.esteri.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  20. ^ "Fotonoticia: Estepona dedica una calle a Roberto Montanari". Ayuntamiento de Estepona (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  21. ^ ""Viaggio nella Spagna del pittore Montanari" - Museo civico di Palazzo Chiericati - Musei Civici Vicenza". www.museicivicivicenza.it. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  22. ^ "Tutto esaurito a Palazzo Chiericati per il concerto in ricordo del pittore Montanari - Museo civico di Palazzo Chiericati - Musei Civici Vicenza". www.museicivicivicenza.it. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  23. ^ "Grifo Arciere - Nettuno (Forte del Sangallo) - apr. 2004". www.grifoarciere.org. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  24. ^ "Il sito turistico del Comune di Alassio - Mostra all'Anglicana". www.comunealassio.it. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  25. ^ "Il Presidente della Provincia di Roma Nicola Zingaretti è lieto di invitare la S.V alla inaugurazione della mostra di Roberto Montanari" (PDF).
  26. ^ "Roberto Montanari "El pintor de los toros" a Casa Guerrini a Sant'Alberto - 2009 - Comunicati dell'ufficio stampa - Comunicati - Ufficio Stampa e Comunicazione - Comunicazione pubblica e informazione - Aree Tematiche - Sito ufficiale del Comune di Ravenna". www.comune.ra.it. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  27. ^ "Omaggio a Roberto Montanari, dal 18 luglio in sala degli Zavatteri in Basilica palladiana - Teatro Olimpico / Basilica Palladiana / Chiese - Musei Civici Vicenza". www.museicivicivicenza.it. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  28. ^ "Omaggio a Roberto Montanari " El Pintor de los Toros" • SPAGNA cultura e scienza". SPAGNA cultura e scienza (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  29. ^ "Le onorificenze della Repubblica Italiana". www.quirinale.it. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  30. ^ informatici, Segretariato generale della Presidenza della Repubblica-Servizio sistemi. "Le Onorificenze - Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana". Quirinale (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-05-25.
  31. ^ "Recoaro - Premio "Airone d'Oro" - Cinegiornali - Scheda video - Istituto Luce - Cinecittà - Senato della Repubblica". senato.archivioluce.it. Retrieved 2020-05-20.