Alberto Burri
1915 - 1995Born in Città di Castello in Italy, Alberto Burri (1915 – 1995) was one of the greatest artists of European informal art. After his beginnings in 1945, Burri turned to abstraction (1948), using unconventional materials. He took part in the XXVI Venice Biennale (1952) and, in 1953, was the only Italian to take part in the Younger European Painters exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, organised by James Johnson Sweeney. He also took part in several documentas in Kassel (1959, 1964, 1982).
In 1978, Alberto Burri created the Fondation Palazzo Albizzini “Collezione Burri,” composed of two large buildings, the Palazzo Albizzini and the Ex Seccatoi del Tabacco, in Città di Castello, Umbria. In 2017, the Burri Foundation inaugurated a new floor in the drying sheds of the old tobacco factory (Ex Seccatoi del Tabacco), devoted to the graphic repertoire.
Famous for his tireless research into unconventional processes and materials, Alberto Burri approached graphic design techniques as a laboratory, a new field of experimentation. Grafica, which is an integral part of his creative process, preceded, followed, and was sometimes simultaneous with his production of visual works, notably his paintings. Created in small series, it reveals the artist’s extraordinary manual skills, and his capacity for constant experimentation. The series embody the graphic translation of his research into matter.
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Alberto Burri working in his studio, Case Nove di Morra, c.1973, Città di Castello. © Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini Collezione Burri.
“Our stability is only balance, and our knowledge resides in a masterful control of the unexpected.”
Robert Bridges
Artworks
Alberto Burri
Cretto Bianco, 1971
Etching and aquatint on Fabriano Rosaspina paper.
67 x 96,4 cm | 26 3/8 x 38 in.


Alberto Burri, Cretto Nero D
1971

Alberto Burri, Cretto G
1971
Exhibitions
Art Fairs
Publications
Artists
- Karel Appel
- Victor Brauner
- Alberto Burri
- Alexander Calder
- Lynn Chadwick
- Geneviève Claisse
- Claudine Drai
- Jean Dubuffet
- Maurice Estève
- Sam Francis
- Simon Hantaï
- Hans Hartung
- Le Corbusier
- Fernand Léger
- Mao Lizi
- Georges Mathieu
- Alicia Penalba
- Serge Poliakoff
- Judit Reigl
- Jean-Paul Riopelle
- Gérard Schneider
- Pierre Soulages
- Geer van Velde
- Victor Vasarely
- Bernar Venet
- Claude Viallat
- Maria Helena Vieira da Silva
- Ossip Zadkine