ARMANDO SPADINIFlorence, 1883 - Rome, 1925 Sketch for the "Bathers", 1925 Oil on board, 54,5 x 48,5 cm Signed, authenticated and dated on the back:Dipinto di Armando Spadini, in Roma 1925BIOGRAPHY: Son of artisans, he practiced ceramics for some time and attended professional school. At the turn of the century he was enrolled in the free school of the nude at the Academy of Florence; he assiduously frequents the museums and De Carolis studio - with which he too will collaborate for a short time - and makes friends with Soffici and Costetti. In 1901 he obtained the second prize at the Alinari Competition and collaborated with woodcuts and drawings at Papini's "Leonardo" and Borgese's "Hermes". After completing his military service in 1903-05, he returned to Florence and competed for the National Artistic Pensioner in 1909, resulting in the winner. Meanwhile, in 1908, he married Pasqualina Cervone, whom he met at the Fattori school, and moved with her to Rome in 1910. The early Roman years were also marked by difficulties of an economic nature. After a first exhibition at the artistic pensioner (1912) he participated in the exhibitions of the Secession in 1913 and 1915, obtaining his first successes. Called up to arms, he was reformed in 1917 due to the onset of the first symptoms of chronic nephritis which would cause his premature death. He moves with his wife and children to a small villa in Parioli, at the time on the edge of the Roman countryside, which will become the destination of frequent visits to his literary friends and artists, Cecchi, Baldini, Cardarelli, Papini, Soffici, Ungaretti, Oppo, de Chirico, Bartoli. He exhibited in 1918 in the Italian Art exhibition in Zurich, then presented himself with a large solo exhibition at the Casina del Pincio. The friendship with Cecchi and Baldini, the frequentation of the cultural milieu of the "third room" of the Caffè Aragno contribute to bringing him closer, in 1919, to the "Ronda", and also the group of "Valori Plastici" is interested in his work, although controversy and difficulties. In 1920, thanks to the interest of Ojetti, who dedicated a short monograph to him that year, he won a professorship in Florence, but gave up in order not to leave Rome and the Municipality rented him a studio at the Uccelliera in Villa Borghese. The growing interest in his painting relieved him of economic difficulties, while his health conditions began to deteriorate. The same year he was appointed Academician of S. Luca and from the following year ago he was part of the committee for the Roman Biennials (1921-'25. In 1922, presented by Savinio, he exhibited at the spring Florentine with the group of "Valori Plastici". In 1923 he participated in the exhibition of Italian art in Buenos Aires. In 1924 he had a personal room at the XIV Venice Biennale, which consecrated him among the now established artists, and was present at the "Carnegie Exhibition" in Pittsburgh; he collaborated with the Soffici magazine "Gallery"; Oppo, Baldini, Cecchi and Soffici dedicate a monograph to him. Even after his death, Spadini's work remains the indispensable term of comparison for the young Roman generations, until the great exhibition, organized by PM Bardi in 1930, at the newly inaugurated Galleria di Roma. Until about 1910, Spadini's work passed through influences of the Macchiaioli and the Pre-Raphaelites. In the years of the Secessions it took a turn in an "impressionist" sense, which the artist later denied in part, but which gives his work that characteristic chromatic and luminous component. This renewal after the war will also be affected by careful studies on ancient painting.BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Durbè, P. Rosazza, L. Titonel (edited by), "Armando Spadini", cat. exhibition, National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome 1983;M. Fagiolo, F. Matitti, L. Titonel, "Armando Spadini", catalog of the exhibition, Poggio a Cajano 1995 (Milan 1995 edition);General catalog of the Municipal Gallery of Modern Contemporary Art, edited by G. Bonasegale, Rome 1995, Very good condition Frame, without glass, with passepartout