Lucio Ranucci (1925-2017) - Senza Titolo

Lucio Ranucci, one of the most significant representatives of the artistic current known as realist cubism, was born in 1925 in Perledo, in the province of Como. His childhood and adolescence were marked by frequent moves caused by his parents’ work, both doctors. While his father and his younger sister Silvia moved between the north and south of Italy, Lucio spent eight years in a boarding school in Perugia. 1933 brought a dramatic turning point in his life when his father, Bernardino, died. His mother decided to move to Milan with Silvia, leaving Lucio at the Perugia boarding school. The experience of separation and solitude would profoundly influence his artistic path, inspiring his future works. In early 1943, like many young Italians of the time, Lucio Ranucci volunteered for the Italian army and went to North Africa. This adventure was supposed to be a heroic experience, but it soon turned into a captivity in Tunisia, where he was captured. In January 1945, he returned to Italy as an interpreter for the Anglo-American troops. After the war, Lucio Ranucci began working as a journalist in Milan, but his thirst for knowledge and the desire to explore the world led him, in 1947, to undertake a journey to Latin America, initially to Argentina. His financial means were limited, and to sustain himself he took occasional jobs as a sailor, funeral-car driver and photographer, moving through Chile, Bolivia and Peru. Despite the frequent moves, he never gave up his interest in painting and the cultural environment of the Latin American countries. Lucio Ranucci maintained constant journalistic activity, using his art as a vehicle for denouncing poverty, oppression and the lack of freedom of the South American populations. In 1949, he exhibited for the first time at the Marini Gallery in Lima, Peru, and from then on he began to exhibit regularly in various Latin American nations, the United States, Europe and Italy. During the 1950s, he participated in important group exhibitions, such as the 1958 Pan-American Biennial in Mexico and the Sao Paulo Biennial as a representative of Costa Rica. His style, with influences from Cubism and Expressionism, reflects the sublimation of humanity, with solemn, frontal figures, painted with pupil-less eyes that express the inner world of the subjects. In 1951, Lucio Ranucci established his homeland for ten years in Costa Rica, where he served as director of the University Theater and dedicated himself to painting murals as well, including a large panel at the San Jose airport. His sensitivity to the dramas of people led him to actively participate in Central American political events, even ending up in prison in Managua, Nicaragua. However, Ranucci did not see himself only as a journalist or political activist; his true passion remained art. Over the years, he exhibited in numerous countries, from the Americas to Europe, earning recognition and appreciation for his ability to capture the soul of suffering humanity through his paintings. After a period in Rome and Ischia, Lucio moved to the United States, to San Francisco, to display his works and engage with his audience of admirers. Subsequently, he lived for a period in Paris and finally settled on the French Riviera, near Vence. Lucio Ranucci not only dedicated himself to painting but also authored three books, including Alguien camina sobre el sol (1949) and I colonnelli (1965). Throughout his long artistic career, he exhibited in more than fifteen countries and his works ended up in public and private collections around the world. His indomitable passion for art drove him to fight for the return of art as the cradle of culture and memory and as a voice of protest against human dramas. Lucio Ranucci passed away in 2017, but his artistic legacy and his devotion to social denunciation remain a testament to his heritage in contemporary art. His works continue to live on, carrying with them the force of emotions and the call for social justice.