Roberto Gaetano Crippa Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Gaetano known as Roberto Crippa (Monza, 7 May 1921 – Bresso, 19 March 1972) was an Italian painter, sculptor and aviator. After starting to paint in 1945, in a figurative style with cubist influences close to the style of Picasso, he joined the spatialist movement with Lucio Fontana, Gian Carozzi, Giorgio Kaisserlian, Beniamino Joppolo, Milena Milani, Sergio Dangelo, Carlo Cardazzo, Cesare Peverelli. Read the full biography

Roberto Gaetano Crippa Biography

Gaetano known as Roberto Crippa (Monza, 7 May 1921 – Bresso, 19 March 1972) was an Italian painter, sculptor and aviator. After starting to paint in 1945, in a figurative style with cubist influences close to the style of Picasso, he joined the spatialist movement with Lucio Fontana, Gian Carozzi, Giorgio Kaisserlian, Beniamino Joppolo, Milena Milani, Sergio Dangelo, Carlo Cardazzo, Cesare Peverelli. Having graduated in art in 1947/1948 at the Brera Academy (where he met Aldo Carpi, Carlo Carrà and Achille Funi), he participated in the Venice Biennale the following year, and exhibited works at the Milan Triennale. Again in 1950, 1954 and 1956 he was present at the Biennale and again in 1950 he exhibited in Trieste during a collective exhibition entitled Spatial Art. Following his friendship with Lucio Fontana, he was one of the signatories of the third "Manifesto of Spatialism" (Proposal for a regulation) of 1950. In 1951 he also participated in the "Manifesto of Spatial Art". Crippa's work at the beginning of the fifties centered around a series of paintings called Spirals, of a geometric and abstract nature: with the quasi-circular (but never perfectly round) geometric gesture Crippa created convoluted spaces, from which rays that ideally projected outside the two-dimensionality of the canvas, in line with the principles of the spatialist "Manifesto". Having also become known abroad for his works, Crippa reached New York, where he met the surrealists Max Ernst, Victor Brauner and Yves Tanguy, and exhibited at the Alexander Iolas gallery. The Spirals changed, becoming heavier, incisive and convoluted, interlaced with each other. These figures, developed between 1954 and 1956, are defined as Totems. In 1955 he moved on to the production of multi-material works, which populated a personal exhibition at the Galleria del Naviglio in Milan. The following year the inspiration of the multi-material paintings was further developed, with the production of works in iron, bronze and steel inspired by primitive symbolism. With these works he participated in the 1958 Biennial. The use of original materials in 1960 resulted in the production of works in asbestos, cork, newspaper and tissue paper, combined with different materials and colours. The works were exhibited in a traveling exhibition that reached Japan, the United States and Australia. In 1962 he was the victim of a flight accident: Crippa was an aerobatics enthusiast, so much so that in 1971 he was invited as the Italian representative to the World Aerobatics Championships. The accident in '62 forced him into a wheelchair for almost a year: nevertheless, he participated with his paintings in various exhibitions in Europe and the United States. In this phase Crippa moved on to paint landscapes (Landscape), with the multi-material technique and with the usual abstract style. Also from this period are the amiantites, non-paintings made with thin sheets of asbestos applied to an engraved board. In 1967 the State of Rhodesia dedicated a stamp to Crippa; the following year the artist, fully recovered, participated in the Venice and Menton Biennials. In the seventies Roberto Crippa also worked on postal art (mail art). One of his postcards, addressed to Eraldo Di Vita in Milan, is also published in his monograph. In 1972, during a preparatory flight for the World Championships, Crippa's plane crashed near Bresso airport, killing the artist and his student Piero Crespi.