Carla Accardi

A key figure of abstract art in Italy during the 1940s, Carla Accardi rose to fame as a founding member of the Italian avant-garde movement, Forma 1. Embracing the principles of Futurism, Marxism and Feminism, her early paintings focused on the use of color and interlocking geometric shapes. In the 1950’s Accardi attempted to further revolutionize her style through the hybridization of geometric abstraction with gestural painting. Her iconic aesthetic, calligraphic marks combined with a minimalist color palette, explore the relationship between figure, ground and the endless possibilities of abstraction. Moving away from the traditional space of the canvas, Accardi experimented with mediums such as Sicofoil and sheets of plastic in the place of traditional canvas.  She is considered a key influence of the Arte Povera movement of the 1960’s and her work has been shown extensively all over the world, and for the first time in the United States at MoMA P.S.1 in 2001. Accardi was named Accademico di Brera in Milan, and was also the recipient of the prestigious Cavaliere di Gran Croce.