The internationally renowned Italian master of abstract art Afro Basaldella is the star of an upcoming exhibition at St Petersburg's prestigious Hermitage Museum.
Entitled 'Afro: The Colour of Emotion', the exhibition spotlights over 50 works by the artist, mapping out his entire career.
Born in Udine in 1912, Afro's work was being exhibited by the time he was just 16 and by the age of 18 he had won a scholarship to study art in Rome.
The exhibition starts with Afro's early years in Rome, after finishing his course, where he worked alongside artists such as Corrado Cagli and Mario Mafai.
The 1930s also saw him collaborating closely with his brothers, Mirko and Dino, both sculptors, on a number of experimental pieces.
By the end of the 1940s, Afro had gained considerable recognition in Italy, with paintings displayed in three Biennials.
Increasingly retreating himself, switching his focus to neo-cubist and then abstract art, Afro decided to travel to New York, a decision that marked a turning point in his career and set him on the path to international fame.
In 1950, he burst onto the US art scene, thanks to recognition by a Manhattan art dealer, Catherine Viviano, who opened a New York gallery showcasing work by modern Italian artists.
That same year, Afro's work appeared at New York's Museum of Modern Art in an exhibit entitled '20th-Century Italian Art', followed by another show featuring art by five Italian painters.
There are a number of pieces on show from this period, during which he formed close ties with American artists and enjoyed considerable critical acclaim, seeing his work purchased by several art museums.
The exhibition continues by looking at Afro's involvement in different movements, such as the Group of Eight in the 1950s, which reflected his search for ''concrete abstractionism''.
He also became a member of the Origin Group, alongside Alberto Burri, with whom he had close ties.
By the late 1950s, his work was appearing regularly in most of the top international art exhibitions, winning the prize for best Italian artist at the 1956 Venice Biennial.
In 1958, he was one of a group of leading 20th-century art stars, such as Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso, who helped design the Garden of Hope mural at the new UNESCO building in Paris.
The exhibition wraps up with a number of pieces from the 1960s, during which Afro continued to work internationally before falling ill in the 1970s and dying in 1976.
Afro: The Colour of Emotion runs at the Hermitage Museum from May 19 until September 20.
