Alfred Angeletti (1919-1991), Orpheus, 1964

Alfred ANGELETTI  
1919, Arpino (Italy) – 1991, Nice
Orpheus, 1964
ink and acrylic on newspaper mounted on wood
46.5 x 38 cm
signed and dated ‘64’ upper left
dated and titled on the reverse
frame : 50 x 41 cm

A French painter born in Italy, Alfred Angeletti trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the Institute of Decorative Building Arts in Liège before settling in Nice in 1946. There, he developed an independent and highly personal body of work, remaining on the margins of dominant movements while maintaining a discreet dialogue with the major artistic questions of the post-war era. Initially shaped by an expressionist approach close to Art Brut, he experimented continuously with material and gesture—scraping, impasto, splashes, and striations—in search of both diversity and formal simplicity. From the 1940s onward, abstraction and figuration coexist in his practice, forming a fluid and dynamic exchange.

Angeletti created a distinctive lexicon of recurring motifs he referred to as his “Archetypes”—figures, birds, skulls, flowers—which he repeated and transformed over time. His work draws on childlike spontaneity, raw drawing, music—particularly opera—and a spiritual or meditative dimension. Although his practice resonates with movements such as CoBrA, Nouveau Réalisme, or Supports/Surfaces, he never formally aligned himself with any group.

In this 1964 work, painted in acrylic on a page of Nice-Matin, Angeletti summons the figure of Orpheus, lyre raised, rendered as a totemic presence. The newspaper, an ephemeral record of daily life, becomes the matrix for a timeless myth. Through a bold, black line animated by blue striations and splattered marks, the poet-musician emerges with an almost incantatory intensity. Suspended between gestural abstraction and symbolic figuration, the work reveals Angeletti’s ability to draw myth and poetry from the heart of the everyday.

Public collections
Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris
Musée d'art moderne et d'art contemporain de Nice
Frac Alsace, Sélestat