26 Facts About Emilio Pettoruti

Emilio Pettoruti was an Argentine painter, who caused a scandal with his avant-garde cubist exhibition in 1924 in Buenos Aires.

Emilio Pettoruti was born in La Plata, on October 1,1892, to a prosperous middle-class Italian family.

Emilio Pettoruti then studied with Emilio Coutaret, an architect, and teacher at the Drawing School in the Museum of Natural History, where he developed a style in favor of caricature portraits.

Emilio Pettoruti developed a strong friendship with the Peruvian writer Jose Carlos Mariategui which extended into a long-standing relationship.

Emilio Pettoruti began reading Lacerba, a Florentine futurist magazine including literature and artwork inspired by the movement.

Emilio Pettoruti met Futurist artists, and exhibited at Herwarth Walden's Der Sturm Gallery in Berlin.

In 1913, after a commission from Congressman Rodolfo Sarrat, Emilio Pettoruti traveled to Europe to study art.

In 1924, Emilio Pettoruti returned to Argentina, hoping to popularize the genre in his own country.

Emilio Pettoruti's fame spread even to North America, and in 1942, Pettoruti visited San Francisco for his first major United States show.

Emilio Pettoruti married Maria Rosa Gonzalez, who later became a subject in many of his paintings.

Emilio Pettoruti decided to step down as director of the museum, which was limited to a more conservative direction during the administration of President Juan Peron.

Amid ongoing harassment and dismissals of university staff, Emilio Pettoruti returned to Europe in 1952 and continued to paint.

Emilio Pettoruti wrote his autobiography, Un Pintor Ante el Espejo in Paris in 1968, and Pettoruti remained there until his death on October 16,1971.

In 1924, when Emilio Pettoruti returned to Buenos Aires, European Modernism had not yet been accepted by art critics there.

When Emilio Pettoruti arrived back in his native country, he was not unheard of, since many articles had been written specifically for local Argentine publications.

Emilio Pettoruti created several caricatures, enough to show forty-six at the exhibition hall of the local newspaper in Buenos Aires.

Emilio Pettoruti worked on space and shape in his compositions, considering color secondary in his paintings.

Emilio Pettoruti spread his artistic talent to theater costumes, set designs, and stained glass windows.

Emilio Pettoruti became interested in mosaics, exploring the potential mosaics could have on the expansion of his ideas.

Not being limited to one medium, Emilio Pettoruti incorporated various materials found in garbage dumps into his mosaic to add texture and catch the light in diverse ways.

In 1922, Emilio Pettoruti went to Milan, where his artwork was influenced by some friends who were members of the Novecento Italiano.

In 1915, Emilio Pettoruti did his first one-artist show at the Gonelli Gallery in Florence.

Emilio Pettoruti showed thirty-five works, including among others, nine drawings, fifteen paintings, and eight sketches for mosaics.

Emilio Pettoruti considered the exposition to be a "rallying cry for those of different vision," encouraging Argentines to embrace the new artistic period.

In 1938, Emilio Pettoruti showed at the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires at an exhibition titled "Tres Expresiones de la Pintura Contemporanea".

In 1942, Emilio Pettoruti traveled to San Francisco for his first North American show at the San Francisco Museum of Art.