Paolo Lapi (1935-2016) - Siepe Fiorita

AUTHOR

Paolo Lapi (1935-2016) was a painter, printmaker, and poet from Pisa, capable of making the solid Tuscan figurative tradition converse with the inquietudes of modernity. Trained at the Istituto Statale d’Arte in Florence, he debuted in the second half of the 1950s with a style initially tied to a post-Macchiaioli naturalism, then rapidly evolved toward a language in which color becomes the very framework of reality and a privileged instrument of inner investigation. During his long and prolific career, crowned in 1979 with the prestigious title of Knight of the Italian Republic for artistic merits, Lapi exhibited his works around the world, from Paris to the United States, distinguishing himself for a chromatic sensitivity that transforms painterly matter into pure narrative.

His production is characterized by a constant search for balance between the constructive force of the sign and the lyrical evocation, ranging with ease from themes of social denunciation to more visionary and contemplative cycles. If in the sixties he confronted the horror of war and alienating technology through disruptive series such as the 'Infernal Machines' and the 'Lords of War', his artistic maturity opened to evocative 'imaginary journeys', capturing the atmospheres and the peoples of Africa with a gesture that was dense, viscous, and vibrant. Defined as a 'delicate poet of the vision', Lapi left a deep artistic legacy that continues to be celebrated in major museum institutions.

Description

"Siepe Fiorita", oil on canvas, 73*83cm with frame, 70*80cm the canvas only, 1984, signed at the bottom right. On the verso: title, signature, date and indication of the artist's city, Pisa.

In this painting the artist expresses the fullness of his artistic maturity through a subject that, while starting from natural observation, arrives at a vibrant figurative abstraction. The canvas is not limited to describing a vegetal barrier, but transforms it into a rhythmic explosion of shapes and lights, where the structural composition emerges from the dense interweaving of brushstrokes charged with substance that suggest vitality and movement. This vision reflects the sensibility of an artist capable of transfiguring the given reality into a lyrical and almost dreamlike experience, where the hedge becomes a pretext to explore the depth of inner vision.

From a technical standpoint, the painting testifies to the abandonment of the Florentine Neo-Macchiaioli roots in favor of a rendering where color, almost pure, becomes the absolute protagonist and the very framework of the work. The brushstroke, dense, paste-like, and vibrant, reveals that homage to African subjects and atmospheres that characterized Lapi’s output in the Eighties, a period in which the artist managed to capture the intensity of light and the chromatic strength of distant lands through an instinctive yet controlled gesturality. A work with a powerful and dynamic composition, with a striking overall aesthetic impact.

Condition Report

The overall condition is excellent. The painting is intact in every part, with vivid and clearly visible colors and brushwork. The frame is to be understood as a gift.

Tracked and insured shipment with adequate packaging.