Franco Angeli, Composition, Artwork on Paper, 1970s, Framed

Beautiful work by Franco Angeli leading exponent of the Piazza del Popolo School “Roman eagle”
Dry stamp
Signed lower right in pencil by the Artist.
“Prova d’Artista” Artist's proof by Franco Angeli

This artwork, never before on the market, comes from a private collection and is beautified by an impressive original natural wood, in almost perfect condition.

The artwork is also protected by glass

The dimensions are frame included

Franco Angeli (Rome 1935 - 1988)
Self-taught, he approached abstract-material art, experimenting with various techniques and materials in a quest to go beyond the informal.
He was part of the 'Scuola di Piazza del Popolo' with Mario Schifano and Tano Festa.
In 1955 he came into contact with the sculptor Edgardo Mannucci, whom he frequented until 1957, a friend of Alberto Burri. At that time, he approached Alberto Burri's Informal Art, whose ability to use materials and forms he appreciated.

Angeli was profoundly fascinated by the latter's work, so much so that he took up the worn materiality of his Catrami.

These early approaches to painting were also marked by his militancy in the Communist Party: he joined the Italian Communist Party, meeting in the Campo Marzio section first Tano Festa and later Mario Schifano with whom he shared the experience and drama of the war.

He abandoned this political position after the invasion of Hungary, proving himself closer to the extra-parliamentary left and the Maoist movements.

In 1959 he exhibited his first works in the group show at the Galleria 'La Salita' in Rome with Festa and Uncini.

In the autumn of the same year, he appeared together with Agostino Bonalumi, Jasper Johns, Yves Klein, Robert Rauschenberg and Mimmo Rotella in the magazine 'Azimuth', founded by Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani.



He also frequented the Rosati bar in those years, where he forged significant relationships with Renato Guttuso, Pino Pascali, Jannis Kounellis and Fabio Mauri. "They were young, handsome, talented and painted on canvas on equal terms with the New York of Pop Art, where Andy Warhol was taking his first steps to conquer the world... but the art world knew them as the boys of Piazza del Popolo, supported by visionary art dealers like Plinio De Martiis and passionate collectors like Giorgio Franchetti.

In 1960 he participated in the collective exhibition 5 painters. Roma 60: Angeli, Festa, Lo Savio, Schifano, Uncini curated by Pierre Restany.

Angeli portrayed fragments of history and seemed to keep track of contemporary events, resulting in works such as O.A.S. (Tutti cattivi i tedeschi) or Cuba.

In 1963 he exhibited in the group show 13 painters in Rome at Plinio De Martiis' Galleria La Tartaruga with a poem by Nanni Balestrini. In the same year, he exhibited his works at the Gallery J in Paris in a group show 'L'Object Pressenti' in which Bruce Conner, Christo, Kudo, Mauri, Todd, among others, took part, curated by Pierre Restany.

In June, at the Galleria La Tartaruga, he presented a series of works in which the value of the symbol - expired, customary or even tragic - took on a different augural dimension, standing on the legacy of the Informal.

In 1964, for his solo exhibition at the Galleria dell'Ariete in Milan in January 1964, Angeli used stereotypical ideological symbols, taken from urban furniture


In 1964, for his solo exhibition at the Galleria dell'Ariete in Milan in January 1964, Angeli used stereotypical ideological symbols, taken from urban furniture, summarising the rhetorical and celebratory character of the relics of an eternal and capital Rome: 'My first paintings are the testimony of daily contact with the street. I saw the ruins, the tombstones, ancient and modern symbols such as the Eagle, the Swastika, the Sickle and Hammer, obelisks, Lupe Romane statues, unleash enough energy to face the pictorial adventure'.

In the same year, he participated in the Venice Biennale presented by Maurizio Calvesi, exhibiting his canvases 'The She-Wolf' and 'Quarder Dollar', subjects that characterised many of his later works.