Essential Biography
edited by Sabrina Samor
1923.
Pier Achille (Pirro) Cuniberti is born on the 10th of September in Padulle di Sala Bolognese.
Son of Emilio Cuniberti, sales representative of masonite (material that starting from the end of the ‘70s
will be for Pirro fundamental) and Zaira Monari that will grow five children: Pier Achille, Maria, Clelia, Nando,
Emanuele. His parents will be the ones who will encourage him in drawing after he wins, in 1933, the “Argonali”
for drawing organized by the Opera Nazionale Balilla.
1934. Failed the grammar school entrance exam, he enrolls in business school. Obsessed by the fabrication of flying
and small plane models, during this school phase does well only in literary subjects and drawing thanks to the good
teacher he had.
1939. Graduated in business school he enrolls at the Regia Scuola per Industrie Artistiche in Bologna where
he attends the lessons of Professors Ferdinando (professional drawing) and son Ruggero Rossi (life drawing)
of whom he will always say: “... they taught me all I really need to know in my effort to make art”.
1943. In February is draft noticed and sent to the II° Grenadier Regiment of Sardinia. During the tragic days
defending Rome, in particular the evening of the 10th of September, day of his twentieth birthday, the military
stronghold n. 11, where Cuniberti is a telephone operator, is attacked by the German. Slightly injured he will be able
to reach Bologna only 5 days later. In June during a short license he attends, wearing his military uniform,
the entrance examination for the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna where he will be admitted.
1944. Always in February he is recalled for service and assigned to Germany to train in the Black Forest.
One day during training in the forest he saw a chalet with the doors completely opened and went inside
to look for papers to stuff inside the uniform in order to try to keep his body warmer. He took the first
poster he found, he folded it, stuffed it inside his uniform and that evening when he removed it he found out
that the poster was a print re production of “ a modest room with a bed, a small table and two straw chairs”.
He oftenly looked at that print which had these words written on it: Vincent Van Gogh, Chambre d’Arles, 1889.
He will later comment: “I was struck by the simplicity of that ‘sketched painting’”. Racconterà più tardi:
“Mi colpì la semplicità di ‘quella pittura disegnata’”. After the end of the war, returned to Bologna, he went searching
art books and was luck to find a series, printed during the war, dedicated to modern artists.
1945 – 48. Pupil of Giorgio Morandi and Giovanni Romagnoli at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna.
1948. Graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts, he cooperates with the Mingozzi advertising studio and with
the publicity department of Ducati under the direction of Enzo Biagi. This is also the year of the first postwar Biennial
that was for Pirro fundamental; he went to Venice “to see” Vincent Van Gogh and discovered Paul Klee,
who he will define as his “daddy”.
1949. He attends a course held by Virgilio Guidi and makes many drawings, pastels, tempera on paper
and small oil canvases, but of this initial phase he will destroy everything. He makes lasting friendships with
Vasco Bendini, Sergio Romiti and Sergio Vacchi. With ex-schoolmate Franco Lodoli he discovers French poetry.
1950. Start sto work with Dino Gavina on displays and stands for the trade fairs.
1952. He “discovers” the ballpoint pen with which he will make drawings, on typing paper, which achieve abstraction.
1953. The painting department of the Bologna Art School was going to be closed and Cuniberti’s old teacher Rossi invited him to take into consideration the possibility to teach. In March he gets the job teaching Professional Drawing in the Deaprtment of Artistic Decoration. He will go on to direct its workshop and subsequently the Ceramic Arts workshop too. He leale teaching in 1978, embittered by the state of chaos prevailing in the schools.
1955. On the 15th of June he marries Laura (Lalla) Baisi with whom he will have three daughters: Barbara (1956), Monica (1958), Emanuela (1960). Lalla will also be the indefatigable bibliographer and cataloger
of her husband’s work.
1957. In December he inaugurates his first solo exhibition, presented by Francesco Arcangeli,
at the Circolo Culturale in Bologna.
1965. Is invited to the Quadriennale of Rome.
1966. In the XII Premio Spoleto, he wins an award for the painting Tentativo di dialogo con un ufficiale di frontiera.
1972. Invited to the X° Quadriennale d’Arte of Rome, he presents the works: Il desiderio del volo, Progetto
di sistemazione di una collina, Il motociclista biondo, L’angelo del mattino controlla l’agricoltura,
La favola dell’inquinatore, Senza titolo.
Enzo Biagi, at the time director of “Il Resto del Carlino”, invites him to oversee the layout of their publications.
1976. I Disegni di Cuniberti 1948 – 1975, over one tundre drawings presented by Pier Giovanni Castagnoli
and exposed at the Galleria San Luca in Bologna.
1979. Abandons canvas to paint on masonite panels (pressed wood laminate) rendered in acrylic over a brusche acrylic base, initially diluted with the presence of pastels and graphite.
1982. He participates in Livres d’Art et d’Artistes at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
1984. In the educational section of the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna, he presents Vita d’Artista. This is Cuniberti’s first survey exhibition presented by Andrea Emiliani and curated by Paolo Fossati and Dario Trento.
In the same year Feltrinelli publishes Stranalandia, result of an intense double work with the writer Stefano Benni.
1987. Paints a large panel for the headquarters of the Regione Emilia-Romagna.
1991. Pirro mounts an exhibition with a retrospective slant at the Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara presented
by Claudio Cerritelli.
1992. Produces in collaboration with Giosetta Fioroni, with drawings by both, the book Mono Doble
(Edizioni Exit, Lugo).
1996. Is invited to the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, by Professor Paola Barocchi, for a seminar on Pirro’s work, conducted by Paolo Fossati. The same year, for the publisher Einaudi, he illustrates La trilogia del CapitanoNemo
by Jules Verne.
1998. The magazine Parol-quaderni d’arte, under the direction of Luciano Nanni, dedicates its monographic section
to Cuniberti, curated by Silvia Pegoraro with contributions by Claudio Cerritelli, Paolo Fossati, Silvia Pegoraro, Giorgio Sandri, Claudio Spadoni and Dario Trento.
1999. Designs the logo for the “Bologna 2000 European City of Culture”.
2003. Inaugurates an important survey exhibition at the Museo Archeologico in Bologna, curated by Claudio Cerritelli e Dario Trento, then mounted at the Casa del Mantegna in Mantova.
2004. Exposes at the Italian Institute of Culture in London and Berlin.
2007. Exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera curated by Claudio Cerritelli e Dario Trento.
2008. First important solo exhibition in the United States at the ESSO Gallery in New York.
Son of Emilio Cuniberti, sales representative of masonite (material that starting from the end of the ‘70s
will be for Pirro fundamental) and Zaira Monari that will grow five children: Pier Achille, Maria, Clelia, Nando,
Emanuele. His parents will be the ones who will encourage him in drawing after he wins, in 1933, the “Argonali”
for drawing organized by the Opera Nazionale Balilla.
1934. Failed the grammar school entrance exam, he enrolls in business school. Obsessed by the fabrication of flying
and small plane models, during this school phase does well only in literary subjects and drawing thanks to the good
teacher he had.
1939. Graduated in business school he enrolls at the Regia Scuola per Industrie Artistiche in Bologna where
he attends the lessons of Professors Ferdinando (professional drawing) and son Ruggero Rossi (life drawing)
of whom he will always say: “... they taught me all I really need to know in my effort to make art”.
1943. In February is draft noticed and sent to the II° Grenadier Regiment of Sardinia. During the tragic days
defending Rome, in particular the evening of the 10th of September, day of his twentieth birthday, the military
stronghold n. 11, where Cuniberti is a telephone operator, is attacked by the German. Slightly injured he will be able
to reach Bologna only 5 days later. In June during a short license he attends, wearing his military uniform,
the entrance examination for the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna where he will be admitted.
1944. Always in February he is recalled for service and assigned to Germany to train in the Black Forest.
One day during training in the forest he saw a chalet with the doors completely opened and went inside
to look for papers to stuff inside the uniform in order to try to keep his body warmer. He took the first
poster he found, he folded it, stuffed it inside his uniform and that evening when he removed it he found out
that the poster was a print re production of “ a modest room with a bed, a small table and two straw chairs”.
He oftenly looked at that print which had these words written on it: Vincent Van Gogh, Chambre d’Arles, 1889.
He will later comment: “I was struck by the simplicity of that ‘sketched painting’”. Racconterà più tardi:
“Mi colpì la semplicità di ‘quella pittura disegnata’”. After the end of the war, returned to Bologna, he went searching
art books and was luck to find a series, printed during the war, dedicated to modern artists.
1945 – 48. Pupil of Giorgio Morandi and Giovanni Romagnoli at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna.
1948. Graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts, he cooperates with the Mingozzi advertising studio and with
the publicity department of Ducati under the direction of Enzo Biagi. This is also the year of the first postwar Biennial
that was for Pirro fundamental; he went to Venice “to see” Vincent Van Gogh and discovered Paul Klee,
who he will define as his “daddy”.
1949. He attends a course held by Virgilio Guidi and makes many drawings, pastels, tempera on paper
and small oil canvases, but of this initial phase he will destroy everything. He makes lasting friendships with
Vasco Bendini, Sergio Romiti and Sergio Vacchi. With ex-schoolmate Franco Lodoli he discovers French poetry.
1950. Start sto work with Dino Gavina on displays and stands for the trade fairs.
1952. He “discovers” the ballpoint pen with which he will make drawings, on typing paper, which achieve abstraction.
1953. The painting department of the Bologna Art School was going to be closed and Cuniberti’s old teacher Rossi invited him to take into consideration the possibility to teach. In March he gets the job teaching Professional Drawing in the Deaprtment of Artistic Decoration. He will go on to direct its workshop and subsequently the Ceramic Arts workshop too. He leale teaching in 1978, embittered by the state of chaos prevailing in the schools.
1955. On the 15th of June he marries Laura (Lalla) Baisi with whom he will have three daughters: Barbara (1956), Monica (1958), Emanuela (1960). Lalla will also be the indefatigable bibliographer and cataloger
of her husband’s work.
1957. In December he inaugurates his first solo exhibition, presented by Francesco Arcangeli,
at the Circolo Culturale in Bologna.
1965. Is invited to the Quadriennale of Rome.
1966. In the XII Premio Spoleto, he wins an award for the painting Tentativo di dialogo con un ufficiale di frontiera.
1972. Invited to the X° Quadriennale d’Arte of Rome, he presents the works: Il desiderio del volo, Progetto
di sistemazione di una collina, Il motociclista biondo, L’angelo del mattino controlla l’agricoltura,
La favola dell’inquinatore, Senza titolo.
Enzo Biagi, at the time director of “Il Resto del Carlino”, invites him to oversee the layout of their publications.
1976. I Disegni di Cuniberti 1948 – 1975, over one tundre drawings presented by Pier Giovanni Castagnoli
and exposed at the Galleria San Luca in Bologna.
1979. Abandons canvas to paint on masonite panels (pressed wood laminate) rendered in acrylic over a brusche acrylic base, initially diluted with the presence of pastels and graphite.
1982. He participates in Livres d’Art et d’Artistes at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
1984. In the educational section of the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna, he presents Vita d’Artista. This is Cuniberti’s first survey exhibition presented by Andrea Emiliani and curated by Paolo Fossati and Dario Trento.
In the same year Feltrinelli publishes Stranalandia, result of an intense double work with the writer Stefano Benni.
1987. Paints a large panel for the headquarters of the Regione Emilia-Romagna.
1991. Pirro mounts an exhibition with a retrospective slant at the Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara presented
by Claudio Cerritelli.
1992. Produces in collaboration with Giosetta Fioroni, with drawings by both, the book Mono Doble
(Edizioni Exit, Lugo).
1996. Is invited to the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, by Professor Paola Barocchi, for a seminar on Pirro’s work, conducted by Paolo Fossati. The same year, for the publisher Einaudi, he illustrates La trilogia del CapitanoNemo
by Jules Verne.
1998. The magazine Parol-quaderni d’arte, under the direction of Luciano Nanni, dedicates its monographic section
to Cuniberti, curated by Silvia Pegoraro with contributions by Claudio Cerritelli, Paolo Fossati, Silvia Pegoraro, Giorgio Sandri, Claudio Spadoni and Dario Trento.
1999. Designs the logo for the “Bologna 2000 European City of Culture”.
2003. Inaugurates an important survey exhibition at the Museo Archeologico in Bologna, curated by Claudio Cerritelli e Dario Trento, then mounted at the Casa del Mantegna in Mantova.
2004. Exposes at the Italian Institute of Culture in London and Berlin.
2007. Exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera curated by Claudio Cerritelli e Dario Trento.
2008. First important solo exhibition in the United States at the ESSO Gallery in New York.
Copyright © PIRRO CUNIBERTI