Anselmo Bucci 1887-1955

Anselmo Bucci was born on May 25, 1887, in Fossombrone, in the province of Pesaro, Italy. He was an Italian painter and printmaker, and also the author of several important literary works. Bucci was a key figure in the emerging artistic avant-gardes of the early twentieth century, both in Italy and in France.

His passion for drawing emerged early. The renowned painter Francesco Salvini took him under his wing while he was still very young. In 1905, Bucci enrolled at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, but disliking the rigid rhetoric of academic painting, he moved to Paris the following year at the age of nineteen, then the epicenter of artistic avant-garde activity.

In Paris, Bucci experienced material hardship but rich artistic stimulation. He met Gino Severini, Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, and many other artists. He gradually gained recognition for his prints, becoming a master in the field and attracting the attention of critics such as Apollinaire and André Salmon. His most famous prints were influenced by Futurism, though they retained a post-Impressionist figuration closely linked to Italian classicism.

Between 1912 and 1913, following the French painterly tradition, Bucci traveled throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, studying new colors and light effects.

In 1914, when World War I broke out, Bucci volunteered for the “Cyclist Battalion” in Lombardy, joining other Futurist artists and poets such as Marinetti, Boccioni, Sant’Elia, and Carlo Erba. That same year, he won the silver medal at the Florence Mostra dell’Incisione. The war inspired him, and he became one of the most prolific “war painters.” In 1917, he published a series of drawings in Paris titled Croquis du Front Italien, depicting moments from the conflict. Two years later, he produced a set of twelve lithographs entitled Finis Austriae, again centered on wartime scenes.

After the war, Bucci returned regularly to Paris, drawn by the city’s creative energy. He devoted himself fully to painting, exhibiting in numerous Italian and French galleries, and his work began to gain recognition abroad in countries such as England, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

In 1920, he was invited to the Venice Biennale. Around this time, his style underwent a shift toward classicism. He joined the circle of intellectuals and artists led by the writer Margherita Sarfatti, and in 1922, together with Sironi, Funi, Dudreville (whom he had known at Brera), as well as Malerba, Marussig, and Oppi, he co-founded the group known as Novecento Italiano. Bucci himself coined the name. The movement aimed to return to the figure and recognizability of the subject, moving away from the extremes of the avant-garde and re-engaging with classical ideals.

He exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1920 and participated in the first Novecento Italiano exhibition in 1926, though he gradually distanced himself from the group and increasingly pursued literary endeavors, reflecting his artistic eclecticism.

During World War II, Bucci once again engaged with wartime themes, producing figurative works depicting the Navy and military aviation. In 1943, his Milan home and studio were destroyed, prompting him to return to the family house in Monza. He spent the last ten years of his life in near-total isolation. In 1949, he received one final recognition for his work, the Angelicum Prize, awarded for sacred art.

Anselmo Bucci died in Monza on November 19, 1955, at the age of 68.