23 Facts About Antonio Berni

Delesio Antonio Berni was an Argentine figurative artist.

Antonio Berni is associated with the movement known as Nuevo Realismo, an Argentine extension of social realism.

Antonio Berni's work, including a series of Juanito Laguna collages depicting poverty and the effects of industrialization in Buenos Aires, has been exhibited around the world.

In 1914 Berni became the apprentice of Catalan craftsman N Bruxadera at the Buxadera and Co.

Antonio Berni later studied painting at the Rosario Catala Center, where he was described as a child prodigy.

Antonio Berni chose to visit Spain, as Spanish painting was in vogue, particularly the art of Joaquin Sorolla, Ignacio Zuloaga, Camarasa Anglada, and Julio Romero de Torres.

Antonio Berni attended "City of Lights" workshops given by Andre Lhote and Othon Friesz at Academie de la Grande Chaumiere.

Antonio Berni painted two landscapes of Arcueil, Paisaje de Paris, Mantel amarillo, La casa del crimen, Desnudo, and Naturaleza muerta con guitarra.

Antonio Berni went back to Rosario for a few months but returned to Paris in 1927 with a grant from the Province of Santa Fe.

Antonio Berni began studying revolutionary politics, including the Marxist theory of Henri Lefebvre, who introduced him to the Communist poet Louis Aragon in 1928.

Several groups of Asian minorities lived in Paris, and Antonio Berni helped distribute Asian newspapers and magazines, to which he contributed illustrations.

In 1931 Antonio Berni returned to Rosario, where he briefly lived on a farm and was then hired as a municipal employee.

Antonio Berni witnessed labor demonstrations and the miserable effects of unemployment and was shocked by the news of a military coup d'etat in Buenos Aires.

Antonio Berni organized Mutualidad de Estudiantes y Artistas and became a member of the local Communist party.

In 1941, at the request of the Comision Nacional de Cultura, Antonio Berni traveled to Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia to study pre-Columbian art.

Antonio Berni's painting Mercado indigena is based on the photos he took during this trip.

Antonio Berni responded with more political paintings including Masacre and El Obrero Muerto.

From 1951 to 1953, Antonio Berni lived in Santiago del Estero, a province in northwestern Argentina.

Antonio Berni painted Negro y blanco, Utensilios de cocina sobre un muro celeste, and El caballito.

In 1965 a retrospective of Antonio Berni's work was organized at the Instituto Di Tella, including the collage Monsters.

Antonio Berni conveyed these observations in subsequent work with a touch of social irony.

Antonio Berni produced several decorative panels, scenographic sketches, illustrations, and collaborations for books.

Antonio Berni died on 13 October 1981 in Buenos Aires, where he had been working on a Martin Fierro monument.