Carla Accardi

Carla Accardi (Trapani, 1924 – Rome, 2014), born Carolina Accardi, was a prominent figure in Italian abstract art and Italian neo-feminism.

Biography and Works

Carla Accardi began her career in Rome, where she met the artists with whom she would establish the Gruppo Forma, a programmatic movement of abstract art in Italy.

In the 1950s, she developed a personal interpretation of the theme of the sign, in line with the results of European Informalism. Between the 1960s and 1970s, her style shifted toward a language based on the relationship between sign and color, experimenting with a wide variety of expressive solutions: from painting on transparent plastics to exploring the connections between artwork and environment, as well as painted laminates and sicofoil on raw canvas.

Between 1969 and 1971, she created her masterpiece, Triplice Tenda, in which the relationship between artwork and environment reached a significant milestone, forming a habitable structure that viewers could walk through.

From the 1980s until her death, Accardi’s artistic research focused on experimenting with raw canvases, interweaving colored signs.

Exhibitions

Among her solo and group exhibitions, the following can be mentioned: Carla Accardi. 15 tempere (Galleria Age d'Or, Rome, 1950); Biennale Internazionale d'Arte (Venice, 1948; 1964; 1976; 1978; 1993); Arte astratta e concreta in Italia(GNAM - Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, 1951); 6ª Mostra Annuale dell'Art Club(GNAM - Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, 1952); Quadriennale Nazionale d'Arte (Rome, 1955; 1973; 1992); Peintures de Accardi - Sculptures de Delahaye (Galerie Stadler, Paris, 1956); Recent Italian Painting and Sculpture (The Jewish Museum, New York, 1968); Italian Art in the 20th Century (Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1989); Temi e variazioni. Arte del dopoguerra dalle collezioni Guggenheim (Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, 2002); Carla Accardi (Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville, Paris, 2002); Superficie in ceramica, con elaborazione sonora. Passi di passaggio (MMOMA, Moscow, 2008; Rome; Lima; Buenos Aires; Córdoba, from 2009 to 2010); Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution (MOCA, Los Angeles, 2007; Washington D.C.; New York; Vancouver, from 2008 to 2009); Italics. Arte italiana fra tradizione e rivoluzione 1968/2008 (Palazzo Grassi, Venice, 2008); elles@centrepompidou (Paris, 2009); Carla Accardi. Contesti (Museo del Novecento, Milan, 2020).