46 Facts About Trento Longaretti

Trento Longaretti studied at the Brera Academy in the 1930s, where he was taught by renowned artists, including painters Aldo Carpi and Pompeo Borra, and sculptors Francesco Messina and Marino Marini.

Trento Longaretti stated that painting is an "elixir for long life", and continued to paint and exhibit as a centenarian.

Trento Longaretti was on the fringes of the Corrente movement started by his friends and classmates in the 1930s to oppose the Novecento Italiano movement that was influenced by Italian Fascism.

Trento Longaretti was drafted by the Italian Army in 1939, completing tours of duty that until 1945 interrupted his artwork, though still enabling him to attend several exhibitions, including the Mostra degli artisti in armi exhibit at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome.

Trento Longaretti became involved in the Italian figurative art movement of the mid-1900s.

Trento Longaretti's growing stature as a painter in Italy led to exhibitions at increasingly prestigious events, such as the Venice Biennale and Rome Quadriennale.

Trento Longaretti maintained studios in the citta alta of Bergamo and in Corniglia within the Cinque Terre which he described as one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Trento Longaretti was born on 27 September 1916 in the comune of Treviglio, in the Province of Bergamo in Lombardy.

Trento Longaretti was the ninth of thirteen children of his father Alessandro Longaretti and mother Maria Teresa Casirati.

Trento Longaretti's parents named him after another sibling named Trento who died in infancy before Longaretti's birth.

Trento Longaretti had fond memories of Christmas with his family, particularly the tree of zoccoli.

Trento Longaretti attributed to his first grade teacher Maciocchi "understanding my primary talent in life", who nurtured his talent by giving him postcards to copy.

Trento Longaretti enrolled in the architecture program at the Polytechnic University of Milan and a fine arts program at Brera Academy in 1936, ultimately choosing to pursue the latter where he became a student of Aldo Carpi and his assistant Felice Filippini.

Trento Longaretti studied there until receiving his degree in 1939, during which time he was classmates with Arnaldo Badoli, Aldo Bergolli, Bruno Cassinari, Edmondo Dobrzanski, Ibrahim Kodra, Ennio Morlotti, and Italo Valenti.

Trento Longaretti said of Carpi that he was not just an art teacher, but a teacher of life, and that Carpi would correct the work of his students only infrequently, allowing them to develop a freedom in painting.

Trento Longaretti first exhibited his works in 1936 in a series of "Littoriali dell'Arte" exhibitions and at various artist collectives in Bergamo, Genoa and Milan.

Trento Longaretti did not participate in many of the foundational group discussions or late night gatherings at Milan cafes because he returned to Treviglio after classes, but he spent most of his days with this group which would work on "Picassian paintings".

Morlotti, who was from Bergamo, and Trento Longaretti established a friendship that would continue until Morlotti's death in 1999.

Trento Longaretti was deployed to Slovenia, and later to Sicily and Albania, and when his tours of duty were complete, he would participate in art exhibitions.

Trento Longaretti continued to paint during his service, even when on the front lines, committing to canvas images of "dramatic testimonials" considered prohibited, such as Albanian villages razed by Italian troops.

Trento Longaretti dedicated himself to teaching and the creation of works of sacred art in 1945.

Trento Longaretti resided and worked in both Bergamo in Lombardy and Cinque Terre in Liguria.

Trento Longaretti owned a home in Framura, which he first visited in the 1970s.

Trento Longaretti maintained an "elegant studio" in the Citta alta of Bergamo, which was jam-packed with paintings and books, and three in Corniglia, a frazione in the comune of Vernazza within Cinque Terre.

Trento Longaretti described Cinque Terre, which he first visited in the 1970s after discussions with residents in Framura, as one of the most beautiful places in the world, particularly its terraces, vineyards, and mountains.

Trento Longaretti considered it his adoptive home and returned there to paint when he needed tranquility, spending holidays and about four months a year there, as there was little tourism there to distract him.

Trento Longaretti enjoyed walking along the terraces and through the countryside between his studios.

Trento Longaretti stated that a young artist should persist, because "if there is talent, it will surely emerge", but believed that one is born an artist.

Trento Longaretti stated that he preferred creating works that are "accessible and immediately enjoyable" by the public, and considered himself as "isolated in the panorama of Italian art".

Unlike his friend Morlotti, Trento Longaretti had a more reserved political and religious demeanour, which would establish itself in the subjects he chose for his art.

Trento Longaretti was part of several movements, including Corrente and "Figurativismo Italiano", an Italian figurative art movement of the mid 1900s, the latter of which he is "an old master" according to journalist and art critic Giovanni Gazzeano.

Sebastiano Grasso said the works Trento Longaretti produced were in a range of styles between Corrente and expressionism echoing the styles of Gustav Klimt, Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, and Chaim Soutine.

Trento Longaretti's brushwork is described as like that of Cezanne, dense and oily and somewhat analytical.

Trento Longaretti stated that in his "Humana Pictura" exhibition, the works in the collection have a distinctive "painted mosaic" style.

Trento Longaretti stated that his art is "a denouncement and an invitation to no longer committing" the atrocious injustices of violence.

Trento Longaretti refers to the characters in his works as "figurines" who are hopeful, perhaps wounded and resigned, but never desperate.

Trento Longaretti painted many still life portraits, described as "delicate and almost religious", symbolic of solitude and loneliness.

Trento Longaretti's works have been exhibited worldwide, including at London, New York City, Paris, Buenos Aires, Toronto, Ottawa, Amsterdam, Monaco, and Stockholm.

In 1944 Trento Longaretti painted San Francesco libera le colombe in the chapel of the Church of San Bernardino in Caravaggio, and donated the work to the city, which put it on indefinite display at the church.

In 2008, the dealer requested Trento Longaretti to appraise the painting, who reported the request to the police.

Trento Longaretti created a stained glass window for the hospital in his hometown.

Trento Longaretti's works are conserved or displayed at the Duomo di Milano, Duomo di Novara, the Vatican Museums, and the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio and Galleria d'Arte Sacra Contemporanea in Milan.

Trento Longaretti has donated works to the Accademia Carrara and to the Fondazione Credito Bergamasco operated by the bank Credito Bergamasco, which has hosted eight exhibitions dedicated to his works.

Trento Longaretti received the Mylius Award for his painting and the Stanga Award for his engraving in 1939 at the Academy of Brera.

Trento Longaretti created a mosaic in honour of his brother Carlo, who was president of Gruppo Alpini at the time of his disappearance, and installed it by 1981 at the Chiesetta della Madonna degli Alpini in Parco del Roccolo, which had been under renovation by Gruppo Alpini.

Trento Longaretti turned 100 in September 2016 and died on 7 June 2017.