Mario Tozzi (Fossombrone 1895 - St-Jean du Gard 1979)

Mario Tozzi (Fossombrone 1895 – St.-Jean du Gard 1979) attended the Bologna Academy of Fine Arts together with Osvaldo Licini and Giorgio Morandi before moving to Paris in 1920. There he was in contact with Gino Severini, Massimo Campigli, Giorgio De Chirico and Filippo De Pisis. In 1921 he joined the programme advocated by Valori Plastici.
Tozzi developed his own special version of Metaphysical painting, in which archaic forms were grafted onto naturalistic representation, coexisting within each canvas with imaginary presences. In this way he sought to create a sort of dual point of view, between the real and the imaginary, in which the figurative reconstruction of the De Chirico-style mannequin produces a powerful estrangement.
The artistic language that Tozzi developed in the course of his lengthy career, at the nexus of some of the most important trends in modern and contemporary painting, constitutes a highly original contribution to twentieth-century art, and not only Italian.