Giuseppe De Gregorio Biography
Giuseppe De Gregorio (Spoleto, 11 August 1920 – Spoleto, 31 December 2007) was an Italian painter. He was born in Spoleto to a mother from Spoleto and a Sicilian father, Agatino, also a painter. His paternal grandfather had been a teacher of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Catania, but De Gregorio, contrary to family traditions, was self-taught, did not attend art schools but trained in his hometown in contact with the Umbrian artistic environment . His artistic activity began in the late 1940s. Since 1947 he has participated in both collective and personal exhibitions; for the 1st Regional Exhibition of Contemporary Art in Spoleto it will have the presentation in the catalog by Leoncillo Leonardi. He obtained his first official recognition and won some prizes, including the City of Orvieto Award in 1948. Prominent representative of the so-called Spoleto Group, also known as the Gruppo dei sei, founded in 1953 together with young artists such as Filippo Marignoli, Giannetto Orsini, Ugo Rambaldi, Piero Raspi and Bruno Toscano (strictly in alphabetical order as indicated by them themselves), De Gregorio was soon highlighted by the most authoritative critics as one of the promising young artists of Italian art. His painting is presented by Francesco Arcangeli, Maurizio Calvesi, Giovanni Carandente, Enrico Crispolti, Raffaele De Grada, Mario Mafai, Carlo Munari and others. A lively cultural climate characterized the Spoleto of those years; the happy condition of art favored the birth of the Spoleto Prize, established in 1953 also on the initiative of the Group of Six itself. The event is aimed at promoting young artists, painters and sculptors. On this occasion De Gregorio aroused the interest of an important Roman gallery owner Bruno Sargentini of the L'Attico gallery. Thus began his success story. He took part in important exhibitions in Italy and abroad: at the VII Quadrennial National Art Exhibition in Rome in 1956, and again at the ninth in 1966 and the eleventh in 1986; in 1964 at the XXXII Venice Biennale and at the Premio Fiorino in Florence. In 1965 he participated in the first edition of the "National Painting Award" in Corciano, winning the fourth edition as well. In 1974 he moved to Florence with his family, his wife Rosa and his daughter Daniela, but always remained tied to his hometown. In 1977 the Festival dei Due Mondi dedicated a solo exhibition to him; in 1978, at the invitation of maestro Giancarlo Menotti, he created the poster for the XXI Festival. In 1986 and then in 1999 he created the manifesto for Umbria Jazz. In 1997 he definitively returned to live in Spoleto. He passed away at dawn on 31 December 2007 in his home in Spoleto.
