Paolo Ricci

Barletta, 1969, watercolor on paper, 35×47 cm

Born in 1908 in Barletta, he settled in Naples in 1918 where he started working as a blacksmith, but after meeting Vincenzo Gemito, to whom he showed some of his drawings, he decided to dedicate himself to art. In 1929, he drafted the manifesto of the Union of Destructivist Activists (UDA) in favor of politically engaged painting. After a stay in Paris, upon his return in 1931, he was arrested and subjected to strict surveillance. He was arrested again for his anti-fascist political activism during the war years. 

In the post-war period, his studio in the woods of Villa Lucia became a meeting point for intellectuals, artists, and politicians including Eduardo De Filippo, Luigi Cosenza, Renato Caccioppoli, Mario Palermo, Luigi Compagnone, and others. In 1951, he participated in the exhibition Art against Barbarism with works on engaged themes and in a neorealist language. During these years, he also wrote for newspapers such as "L'Unità," "La Voce," "Rinascita." Starting from the 1960s, his commitment as an art and theater critic intensified, especially in the research and reevaluation of forgotten and underrated artists from Southern Italy. Bound by a very close friendship with Maurizio Valenzi, he passed away in 1986.