RICARDO CARPANI (1930-1997). Composition, oil on canvas, signed and dated 68.

Image size 42 x 70 cm.

Ricardo Carpani, painter and graphic artist, born in Tigre, near Buenos Aires, February 2, 1930.
Ricardo Carpani began his studies in law but soon gave them up. At the age of 20, he traveled to Paris, France, where he modeled for various artists but then established himself on the artistic path. In 1952 he returned to Buenos Aires and studied for a year with the master Emilio Pettorutti. Ricardo Carpani's first exhibition took place in 1957. Together with two other artists, he founded the Espartaco Movement. Carpani sympathized with social issues and his paintings are focused on subjects such as unemployment, workers and the poor as well as nationalist themes. The paintings are strong, solid and sharply cut often portraying purposeful men; these works are reflected in his illustrations of Argentina's epic, gauche poem, Martín Fierro.

During the 1970s, Carpani, like many other Argentine artists, writers and intellectuals, during the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional, lived in exile and settled in Madrid, Spain. He also traveled around Europe, the USA Cuba, Mexico and Ecuador. Along with others in the Argentine Commission in Defense of Human Rights, he openly denounced the crimes of the dictatorship to the outside world.

In 1984, a year after the restoration of democracy, Carpani returned to his homeland and produced a series of portraits, including by Julio Cortázar and Roberto Arlt. He also started a series of works that focused on classic, urban themes of Buenos Aires, such as tango, cafes, and slums with tropical backgrounds.

Not long before his passing, Carpani drew a large-scale portrait of Che Guevara which can now be seen in the Plaza de la Cooperación in Rosario, a few blocks from Guevara's birthplace.

Carpani died in Buenos Aires in 1997.
Ricardo Carpani's works are represented in a number of museums worldwide, e.g. in Mexico, Buenos Aires, France, Uruguay and Italy.