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The Catalogue raisonné of the works of Alberto Abate (Rome, 1946–2012) represents the most complete and advanced publication to date on the artist’s practice.
One of the most emblematic and mysterious protagonists of the return to painting during the 1980s, Alberto Abate held a solo show in 1978 at La Salita gallery of Gian Tomaso Liverani, Hermetica-Amor Carnalis, and in 1980 took part in the famous group exhibition of the “Sei Pittori” at La Tartaruga gallery of Plinio De Martis, which inaugurated Anachronism, based on an idea by Franco Piruca, a movement that was later theorised and supported by Maurizio Calvesi.
In 1982, with Carlo Maria Mariani, Roberto Barni and Ubaldo Bartolini he participated in Rome in the show La Pittura Colta, curated by Italo Mussa at Pio Monti’s gallery. In short, Abate belonged to those brave artists who went against the tide, inspired by historians like Maurizio Calvesi and Italo Mussa, fleeing from the avant-garde experiences of the period that were considered guilty of being closed off to their own repetitiveness.
In his figurations, which soon followed an independent path with respect to the other “Anachronists” – as Edward Lucie-Smith, among others, pointed out – two vocations emerge and intertwine: on the one hand the learned painter and, on the other, a theorist of aesthetics.
Edited by Cesare Biasini Selvaggi, arranged chronologically and divided according to the different types of cycles found in the very vast practice of the artist, the catalogue raisonné of Alberto Abate constitutes a new privileged perspective and overview of his entire career, from which emerges not only the extraordinary wealth of works that made him famous around the world but also the great variety of different themes that constantly characterise his activity. Thus the publication analyses the mythological themes that distinguish his works from the 1980s to symbolic and skilfull narrations that offer multiple levels of interpretation in the 1990s, up to a dialogue between figures and geometric forms of a consolidated Cubist-Futurist and Neoconstructivist tradition.
The result of thorough work involving cataloging, archiving and documenting the authenticity of works by the Archivio Alberto Abate, directed by Emma Abate, the catalogue raisonné is the first comprehensive examination of the artist’s oeuvre.
With over 300 pages, this volume presents an in-depth essay by Cesare Biasini Selvaggi, along with additional historical-artistic details and a biobibliography. Lavishly illustrated, the catalogue raisonné includes over 1,200 works (paintings, drawings, mixed media, engravings, etc.), accompanied by entries that offer a precise analysis of bibliography and exhibitions. The publication is rounded off by a collection of writings on and by Alberto Abate.
Art critic, curator and essayist, since March 2017 Cesare Biasini Selvaggi is the editorial director for Exibart.com and Exibart onpaper. Since September 2018 he is secretary general for the Fondazione Selina Azzoaglio|Innovation through Art in Piedmont and scientific consultant for the Fondazione OELLE-Mediterraneo antico in Sicily. He is also co-director of the festival Art + b = love (?) in Ancona, the first festival in Italy devoted to art that innovates science, business and society. He is also a consultant for the founding and management of artist archives, Wcertificates of authenticity, compilation and revision of catalogue raisonnés, general/documentary catalogues on modern and contemporary artists as well as promotion of cultural heritage. Since 1998 he has authored for RAI numerous cultural broadcasts. He has written essays for catalogues and books published by De Agostini, RCS Libri, Hachette, Mondadori, Electa, Skira.
