Catalogue of the exhibition organised by the Galleria Nazionale of Rome to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Vasco Bendini, opening on 29 March 2022. The book takes us on a journey of discovery through the career of one of the greatest Italian artists of the second half of the twentieth century, from his initial training under Giorgio Morandi through to the great solo exhibitions in Rome and his mature works displayed at the Venice Biennials.
Vasco Bendini’s work, greatly esteemed by critics such as Francesco Arcangeli and Maurizio Calvesi, began immediately after World War II pursuing an informal language in search of the face as a universal archetype, and later coming to concentrate on gesture and matter under the influence of Jean Fautrier, among others. In the 60s the paintings were hallmarked by the insertion of heterogeneous objects and materials in a convergence towards Arte Povera, while later actions and installations reflected the working methods of New Dada.
What remained a constant for Bendini was the centrality of the involvement of the observer in a dialogue at once fruitful and essential to the development of his poetics. In addition to the reproductions of the works, the catalogue contains a fine selection of photos from the archives as well as critical essays, and unpublished writings by Bendini himself.

Bruno Corà has been a critic and curator since the mid-1960s. He has been a professor and honor academician at the Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia. He has taught at the Universities of Cassino and Florence. He has been director of Palazzo Fabroni (Centro di Arti Visive Contemporanee) in Pistoia, the Center for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci in Prato and CAMeC-Centro d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in La Spezia, as well as the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Lugano. He is currently president of the Burri Foundation. He has been curator of several International Art Biennials and numerous exhibitions of international artists.