Giuseppe "Bepi" Santomaso (Italy, 1907-1990) oil on canvas Arte Informale gestural non-objective composition entitled "September in Segovia" and rendered in black, white, and blue tones with yellow, brown, and dark red embellishment, 1959-60. Signed and dated "Santomaso 59" lower left. Additionally signed "SANTOMASO" and titled and dated "'SETTEMBRE A SEGOVIA' / 1960" en verso. With original Galleria Pogliani, Rome label affixed to stretcher and Gianni de Marco framing stamp along with illegibly inscribed sticker with red border and small sticker inscribed "43". Housed in a thin ebonized and gilt wood frame. Canvas: 28 3/4" H x 39 1/4" W. Frame: 30 1/2" H x 41" W. Note: Photocopies of relevant pages from a 1980 institutional publication with provenance history are included in the image sequence. 

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Exhibition history (according to 1980 institutional publication): Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, 1960; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1960, no. 23. 

Biographical note: Giuseppe Santomaso studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice from 1932 to 1934. His early paintings were influenced by French Modernism, and in 1939 he had his first solo exhibition at the Galerie Rive Gauche in Paris. Santomaso participated in the Rome Quadriennale in 1943 and executed illustrations for Paul Eluard’s Grand Air in 1945. In Venice in 1946 he became a founding member of the antifascist artists' organization Nuova Secessione Artistica Italiana-Fronte Nuovo delle Arti. Beginning in 1948 and for several years after, Santomaso participated in the Venice Biennale, where he was awarded the Prize of the Municipality of Venice in 1948 and First Prize for Italian Painting in 1954.

In 1957 he traveled to New York for his first exhibition in the United States at the Grace Borgenicht Gallery. While in the U.S. he met the leading Abstract Expressionists including Willem de Kooning, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, and Mark Rothko, who had a lasting influence on the development of his non-objective style. Solo exhibitions of his work were held in 1979 by the Fondacio Joan Miro in Barcelona and the Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst in Munich. Santomaso also taught at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice from 1957 to 1975 (Source: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation).

PROVENANCE: Deaccessioned by a Southern institution to benefit the acquisitions fund; Acquired from Galleria Pogliani, Rome, 1961. 

Overall very good condition. Minor buckling to lower left quadrant. Frame with abrasions and gilt loss, especially to corners. Could benefit from a cleaning by a professional conservator.