Antonio Asturi Biography
Antonio Asturi (Vico Equense, 2 November 1904 – Vico Equense, 3 January 1986) was an Italian painter. A self-taught artist, after a brief futurist experience which he defined as a drift, he remained faithful to figurative painting, profoundly influenced by the personality of the Neapolitan master Antonio Mancini. Antonio Mancini posed for him in 1930 shortly before his death and was so enthusiastic that he countersigned the portrait: Long live those who did it. An elegant portraitist, he also depicted Vincenzo Migliaro, who countersigned his portrait with a Flattered! as well as the philosopher Benedetto Croce, Salvador Dalí, Filippo Marinetti, James Ensor, Arturo Tosi, Giorgio De Chirico, Luigi Einaudi, Arturo Toscanini, Giovanni Papini. In addition to oils, he used a lot of tempera, ink and sanguine. Among the favorite themes, in addition to portraits, are splendid maternities. In the first period of production until the end of the 1950s he mainly used the oil technique on canvas or cardboard, engraving the signature in the colour. The success of the public and critics led him to increase his production by switching to the tempera technique, which allowed him to create faster, Asturi himself reports in an interview that he has created almost ten thousand works. A very prolific maestro, he has produced thousands of works, often on recycled materials, railway tickets, magazine covers, etc. The theme of the wheelchair is very famous all over the world, a subject that is also in great demand abroad. No engravings or multiples have ever been executed, and the few tuff sculptures are extremely rare or unobtainable.
