Angelo Abrate - Turin 1900 - Sallanches 1985, "Mont Blanc...
Angelo Abrate - Turin 1900 - Sallanches 1985, "Mont Blanc and the Domes of Miage from Mont d'Arbois" - Oil on panel, 34x44 cm - Angelo Abrate was an Italian painter and mountaineer born in Turin in 1900 and who died in 1985. He is remembered as one of the most important interpreters of the high-mountain landscape of the 20th century, so much so that he became known as the painter of Mont Blanc. The son of a shoemaker, he spent part of his childhood in Marseille, where his family had moved, and began working at an early age. Returning to Turin as a teenager, he worked as a mechanic and completed his cultural education as a self-taught artist. He was essentially self-taught in painting: a decisive moment was his encounter in Sauze d’Oulx with the Divisionist Cesare Maggi, who became his mentor and friend, while he always cited Giovanni Segantini and Ferdinand Hodler as his artistic influences.A skilled mountaineer, he joined the Italian Academic Alpine Club in 1923 and, a few years later, the French Groupe de Haute Montagne. In July of that same year, 1923, he reached the summit of the Aiguille de Leschaux with Francesco Ravelli and Guido Alberto Rivetti, and subsequently often climbed to high altitudes alone to paint directly in front of his subjects.In the mid-1920s, he held his first solo exhibition in Turin, followed by exhibitions in Chamonix, Milan, and Paris. In 1927, he married Gemma and left his job to devote himself entirely to painting, settling in Haute-Savoie, first in Chamonix and then in Sallanches. His wife’s death in 1942 marked a shift in his artistic style as well: he moved from the palette knife of his early years to the brush, achieving more subtle tonal transitions.His body of work, estimated at approximately 1,800 canvases, is dedicated to the Mont Blanc massif and its peaks, from the Dente del Gigante to the Grandes Jorasses, from the Drus to La Verte, all the way to the crevasses of the Mer de Glace. In 1973, he published his autobiography, *L’ultima tela* (The Last Canvas). He continued to paint until his final years, despite his failing eyesight, and died in 1985.
[ translate ]Angelo Abrate - Turin 1900 - Sallanches 1985, "Mont Blanc and the Domes of Miage from Mont d'Arbois" - Oil on panel, 34x44 cm - Angelo Abrate was an Italian painter and mountaineer born in Turin in 1900 and who died in 1985. He is remembered as one of the most important interpreters of the high-mountain landscape of the 20th century, so much so that he became known as the painter of Mont Blanc. The son of a shoemaker, he spent part of his childhood in Marseille, where his family had moved, and began working at an early age. Returning to Turin as a teenager, he worked as a mechanic and completed his cultural education as a self-taught artist. He was essentially self-taught in painting: a decisive moment was his encounter in Sauze d’Oulx with the Divisionist Cesare Maggi, who became his mentor and friend, while he always cited Giovanni Segantini and Ferdinand Hodler as his artistic influences.A skilled mountaineer, he joined the Italian Academic Alpine Club in 1923 and, a few years later, the French Groupe de Haute Montagne. In July of that same year, 1923, he reached the summit of the Aiguille de Leschaux with Francesco Ravelli and Guido Alberto Rivetti, and subsequently often climbed to high altitudes alone to paint directly in front of his subjects.In the mid-1920s, he held his first solo exhibition in Turin, followed by exhibitions in Chamonix, Milan, and Paris. In 1927, he married Gemma and left his job to devote himself entirely to painting, settling in Haute-Savoie, first in Chamonix and then in Sallanches. His wife’s death in 1942 marked a shift in his artistic style as well: he moved from the palette knife of his early years to the brush, achieving more subtle tonal transitions.His body of work, estimated at approximately 1,800 canvases, is dedicated to the Mont Blanc massif and its peaks, from the Dente del Gigante to the Grandes Jorasses, from the Drus to La Verte, all the way to the crevasses of the Mer de Glace. In 1973, he published his autobiography, *L’ultima tela* (The Last Canvas). He continued to paint until his final years, despite his failing eyesight, and died in 1985.
[ translate ]
