EMILIO SCANAVINO (1922-1986) Composizione

signed (lower right) mixed media on board 40 x 40 cm Born in Genoa, Scanavino studied art in Genoa and architecture in Milan. In 1947, the artist moved to Paris, where he encountered Cubism for the first time, instigating a departure from figuration in favour of more stylised forms. By the 1950s, Scanavino’s work had given way to full abstraction, which he explored on a monumental scale, introducing in 1954 his signature stylized knots, matrices of which inflamed his canvases for the rest of his career, acting as metaphysical signifiers of some unnamed existential torment.