Gastone Novelli Biography
Gastone Novelli was born in 1925 in Vienna. In 1943, at the age of only 18, he took part in the Resistance, was arrested, imprisoned and tortured. Sentenced to death, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment thanks to his mother's intervention and he was freed when the Allied troops entered Rome on 4 June 1944.
In 1945, he moved to Florence and in 1948 made his first trip to Brazil, where his work as an artist began.
From 1950 to 1954, he resided in Brazil, where he dedicated himself to multiple activities and held solo exhibitions and participated in the 1st and 2nd São Paulo Biennale.
In 1955, he settled in Rome and quickly became part of the city's cultural environment, thanks to his friendship with Emilio Villa. 1957 was a fundamental year for Novelli: he made many trips to Paris, where he met Tristan Tzara, André Masson, Man Ray and Hans Arp. In the years after, he travelled extensively, to France, the United States, Greece and Turkey and his solo exhibitions were held both in Italy and abroad. In the meantime, his pictorial research is moving towards going beyond the informal in terms of sign and writing.
His first participation at the Venice Biennale dates back to 1964 with a solo room. It was the Biennale in which American art triumphed, and during which he made important encounters, primarily with Robert Rauschenberg.
In 1968, he was invited to the XXXIV Venice Biennale with a solo room, but in protest against the police intervention inside the Giardini, he refused to exhibit his works by turning them against the walls.