Borgo Museo | Affreschi 1975
Biography
Antonio Bueno was born on 21 July 1918 in Berlin; the family is in this city for the work of their father, a journalist who writes for a Madrid newspaper. His life is characterised by numerous trips and removals. He spends his childhood between Spain, France, Switzerland and England. The family then moved to Geneva, where, after high school, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts. In Paris, some time later, he exhibited his exhibition at the Salon des Jeunes. After their stay in Paris, Bueno together with his brother Xavier, also an artist, decided to embark on a journey, in 1940, to Italy. The first stop is precisely Florence, but, with Italy also entering the war, their journey cannot continue. At the end of the conflict, in 1945, the two brothers decide to stay in Tuscany, a place where they had established themselves as portrait painters and where they had both built a family. It was only in 1970 that Bueno obtained Italian citizenship, and later taught at the International University of Art in Florence. He exhibits many exhibitions, both in Italy and abroad, from which he is very successful. Antonio Bueno died in Fiesole in 1984.
Philosophy
Antonio Bueno’s artistic production begins with a classic painting, characterised above all by self-portraits and still lifes. Between 1952 and 1959 there is the “season of pipes”: in that period, in his paintings often appear some plaster pipes, which he smoked with his brother, which take on a metaphysical meaning. These later become real protagonists of his works. He then begins to paint figures of women with an oval face, which resemble the fireplace shape of a plaster pipe. Bueno represents women with perfectly smooth and clear skin surface, with narrowed features in the center. With these works he is very successful. In 1973 the “d’Apres” series began with a tribute to Picasso. In the works of this period he confronts the greats of the past. In his last years of life, Bueno dedicates almost all of his time to work: in his works there is always a search for detail and this takes a lot of time. To keep the material fresh from day to day, he mixes the color with a mixture of oil and petroleum. His last work commitment was for the 1984 Biennale. Despite his illness, Bueno never lost the enthusiasm and energy to complete his latest work.
Artwork in Castagno
The work of Antonio Bueno present in Castagno is part of a cycle of frescoes from 1975, the year in which 12 artists were invited to represent the months of the year by the art critic, Tommaso Paloscia. The artist created the month of September. At the time of the creation of the work, Bueno is one of the artists who is most familiar with the fresco technique, unlike others. In the work, as well as others present in Castagno, there is a return to primitivism (many artists believe that happiness can be traced back to the first period of humanity, in which people responded only to the laws of nature, without the influence of society), characterised by very simplified forms. September is represented by the rounded face of a woman, whose expression refers to the state of mind present at the end of summer and the return to everyday life. There is also grapes, which recalls the month of the year that the artist is representing. The soft colours of the work are a feature of Bueno’s artistic production. The signature of the work is A.Bueno.