17 Facts About Betto Lotti

Benedetto Lotti was an Italian painter and engraver who belonged to the art movement called Novecento Italiano.

Betto Lotti began his studies in Porto Maurizio, and then at the Art School in Venice.

Betto Lotti was a student of such well-known painters as Guglielmo Ciardi and Ettore Tito.

The young Betto Lotti dedicated himself to mastering his style, especially in charcoal drawing, oil painting and engravings at the Academy of Florence; therein he met Ottone Rosai who became his great friend, and with whom he shared the enthusiasm and experience of the period between 1911 and 1914.

Betto Lotti was awarded the Second Prize from the Ministry of Education in Florence in 1912.

The activity lasted for about a decade and culminated in 1922, when Betto Lotti was selected among the artists featured at the Exhibition of Tuscan engravers in Montreal, Canada.

Betto Lotti was drafted into the army and, in early 1915 sent to the front where he remained until he was wounded and imprisoned.

Betto Lotti was invited to create an exhibition of his works of art in Vienna.

Betto Lotti was in fact hired as a designer and modeler of plastiques at the Military Geographic Institute of Florence; he started teaching art subjects and creating sets for the performances at the Municipal Theatre in Florence, but above all, he set up a long and fruitful activity in the field of journalism, working with the newspaper "La Nazione" and writing art critiques.

Betto Lotti was involved in a wide range of activities and mastered his skills in various forms of art, both in Italy and abroad.

Betto Lotti started creating billboards for the French company Vercasson Paris.

In 1934 Betto Lotti received a teaching position and had to abandon "his" Florence in order to move to Lombardy, the region which has remained his home.

Betto Lotti married Professor Angiola Faravelli and they had two daughters.

Betto Lotti established profound friendship with abstract artists of "Gruppo Como" such as Rho, Radice, Galli and Badiali, and while not adhering to radical theories of the rationalists, he shared his experience and discoveries with them.

The maturity of the artist reached its peak in those decades, confirming the full membership of Betto Lotti in Italian art movement, born in the twenties and defined as Novecento.

Betto Lotti died in Como on April 13,1977, at the age of nearly 83 years.

Betto Lotti was awarded the Order of Merit for Culture and Art by The Ministry of Education in 1963.