Piero Dorazio (Roma 1927-Perugia 2005)

After completing his classical studies, Piero Dorazio devoted himself to architecture for four years. From a young age, he manifested a growing interest in Italian abstractionism. In 1945, together with Carlo Aymonino, Achille Perilli, Mino Guerrini, Lucio Manisco, Carlo Busiri Vici, Alfio Barbagallo and Renzo Vespignani, he founded the Gruppo Ariete, later followed by the Gruppo Arte Sociale. In 1947, his artistic research continued with Gruppo Forma 1, which was also joined by Carla Accardi, Ugo Attardi, Pietro Consagra, Mino Guerrini, Achille Perilli, Antonio Sanfilippo and Giulio Turcato. All members of the group shared the intent to liberate art from a psychological or realistic dimension, focusing attention on structure and emphasizing sign and form as the only elements of expression. Although Dorazio's research developed through different phases, it remained constantly focused on the pictorial qualities of form, color, space and materials. From 1960 to 1970, Dorazio taught at the University of Pennsylvania.