Albino Galvano (turin, 1907 – 1990). Abstract Composition, Dated 1960

Albino Galvano (Turin, 1907 – 1990)
Abstract composition, dated 1960
Mixed media on paper mounted on canvas, signed and dated lower left Galvano ’60
95 × 110 cm
Original aluminium frame

The music of the line and of the dense stains, the void, the apparent randomness of gesture, rhythm and speed… all contribute to a surface that, even without words, communicates emotions and thoughts through the language of abstraction. Marks and traces, seemingly illogical, here find an inner balance, transforming into an evocative and accomplished image. Not all works by Albino Galvano – a major figure and “statesman” of the Turin avant-garde, both painter and thinker – possess the same intensity. This painting, however, contains a soul and a profound idea: a work out of the ordinary.

Trained in Turin as a pupil of Felice Casorati between 1928 and 1931, Galvano later graduated in philosophy, always maintaining a dual vocation as both theorist and artist. In the 1950s he became one of the protagonists of the MAC – Movimento Arte Concreta, alongside Bruno Munari, Gillo Dorfles and Atanasio Soldati, taking in Turin the role of “theorist” of concretism.

From the late 1950s into the early 1960s, his language shifted towards lyrical abstraction, in dialogue with French Art Informel and American Abstract Expressionism. Works like this reveal an energy close to Hartung or Mathieu, but filtered through a more intimate sensibility, shaped by his dual role as philosopher and critic.

In those years Turin was a particularly active centre for abstract research: Galvano worked alongside figures such as Pinot Gallizio, Michel Tapié and Gianni Bertini, and was in contact with the Gruppo dei Sei. Though never formally part of it, he remained close to that milieu while always maintaining his independence.

Condition: good, with signs of age consistent with the period.