Primo Conti (1900-1988) - Senza titolo. 1975

Primo Conti (Florence, October 16, 1900 – Fiesole, November 12, 1988), Untitled. About 1970. Original etching. Sheet 70 x 50 cm. Printed part 33 x 28 cm. Signed in pencil and numbered 85/100. Fabriano paper. In perfect condition.

Umberto Primo Conti (Florence, October 16, 1900 – Fiesole, November 12, 1988) was an Italian painter, composer, and writer.

Biography
Already at eight he began to take an interest in painting, and a self-portrait painted at age 11 drew notable attention from critics.

In 1913 he composed the musical work Romance for violin and piano and had his first encounter with the Florentine futurists, from which Conti developed an interest in the movement's style, an interest that grew until, in 1917, after meeting Giacomo Balla in Rome and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in Naples, he joined the Futurist movement.

He would make his fundamental contribution to Futurism with the paintings and drawings executed between 1917 and 1919, the year in which his style evolved toward a metaphysical vision.

In 1930 he married Munda Cripps, by whom he had two daughters; during these years his works drew inspiration from family life: Girl and butterfly; Girl with a rubber rabbit; Portrait of his wife; Fruit from above; Nudino.

From 1935 to 1939 he collaborated with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino on sets, sketches, and costumes; in 1941 he became the head of the painting chair at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. From 1947 to 1957 he served as president of the Society of Fine Arts and in that capacity promoted its merger (October 29, 1957) with the Circle of Artists of Florence – Casa di Dante, presided by lawyer Renato Zavataro, who then held the presidency from 1958 to 1960. Between 1948 and 1963 he underwent a profound mystical vocation and joined the Franciscan Order. In 1983 he published his autobiography titled The Blackbird’s Throat.

Meanwhile, in 1980, he completed, with the donation of his villa in Fiesole, his collection of paintings and his archive, the creation of a Foundation dedicated to historical avant-garde movements, which still today manages the Primo Conti Museum.