Antonio Calderara

Antonio Calderara (1903-1978) lived primarily in Milan and in Vacciago by Lake Orta. After a year of studying engineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan from 1923 to 1924, he turned to his passion for painting. The most significant artistic influences for the self-taught artist came from his engagement with the works of Piero della Francesca, as well as Kazimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian. As a mature artist, Calderara discovered the compositional structures of Georges Seurat and Josef Albers. In their spirit, he translated the tangible world into strict compositions, creating harmoniously arranged geometric surfaces. Calderara was not interested in the juxtaposition of figuration and abstraction, but rather in the idea of translating the context-bound into what he referred to as "spazio mentale," or mental space. This new monograph presents Calder.