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Marco
Sassone Biography:
Born Marco Massimo Sassone in Campi
Bisenzio, a Tuscan village, in 1942. He is known for his intensely
envisioned landscapes and cityscapes, which combine a heightened sense
of color with a powerfully expressive gestural style of painting.
The family moved to Florence
in 1954, and there he met painters Ottone Rosai and Ugo Maturo, who
encouraged him to follow his interest in art.
In 1959, he enrolled at the Istituto Galileo Galilei, where he studied
architectural drafting until 1961. During this period he supported
himself by selling watercolor sketches of Florence to tourists,many of whom
were Americans, which increased his fluency in English.
In 1962, he studied with painter Silvio Loffredo, professor of art at
the Accademia in Florence.
Loffredo encouraged him to develop his own style and vision. For inspiration,
Sassone studied the works of the 10th century Italian impressionists,
the Macchiaioli – Giovanni Fattori, Vito D’Ancona and
Silvestro Lega. He began exhibiting his first works at this time. At
the age of 25, he was selected to exhibit at Lo Sprone Cultural Center
in Florence.
In November 1967, soon after the flood had devastated his city, Sassone
traveled to the United States
and settled in California.
In 1970, he moved to Laguna Beach, a
small seaside community, Mediterranean
in geography and climate, with its own commitment to the arts. He
became a regular exhibitor at the annual Festival of the Arts.
Throughout the seventies, he participated in a variety of exhibitions
in the U.S.
and abroad. Of his work then, the art critic for the Los Angeles Times,
William Wilson wrote, "Sassone is impressively gifted as a
colorist and skilled in rendering reflections and color in light."
On July 17, 1978, he received a gold medal award from the Italian Academy of Arts, Literature and
Science. On January 5, 1982, he was awarded the decoration and title of
"Official Knight of the Order to the Merit of the Italian Republic"
by Sandro Pertini President of Italy.
Sassone had moved his studio to San
Francisco in 1981, continuing to exhibit here
and abroad. In March of hosted the American Preview for his one-person
exhibition to be held at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery in Paris that April.
A few years earlier, art historian Donelson Hoopes had published
"Sassone," a monograph, in concurrence with the
artist’s exhibition at the Laguna Art Museum.
With prescience, Hoopes had observed, "Sassone’s art has
evolved from within, and such an organic, psychologic and spiritual
process may take his work along new and unforeseen paths". By the
late eighties Sassone had become increasingly concerned with social
themes. He started working with the Inter Aid Organization, donating
paintings to raise money for the group’s work with children in
crisis. He also donated works to a non-profit group called Another
Planet, based in Los Angeles,
supporting that group’s work with the homeless.
In 1989, he began extensive – and personal – research on
the homeless. During the years that followed, he painted a series of
large canvasses and charcoal drawings portraying the life he observed on
the streets. A number of these works have been exhibited since 1990 at
the Chicago International Art Exposition, the Basel Art Fair in Switzerland and the Jan Baum Gallery in Los Angeles. He
has also held exhibitions at "Body Politic" at the San
Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, and "Issue of Choice" at
the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibition (LACE).
In March of 1994, his exhibition "Home on the Streets" opened
at the Museo Italo Americano in San
Francisco. The Hamilton Family
Center, the only
local organization providing 24-hour shelters for families and
children, received all proceeds from the sale of the exhibition
catalogs at the show’s opening.
San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan proclaimed March 30, 1994, "Marco
Sassone Day in San Francisco."
Kenneth Baker, an art critic for the San Francisco Chronicle reviewed
"Home on the Streets." Baker wrote, "there is true
technical brilliance here…In the drawings, his technique seems to
discover fresh descriptive possibilities each time out."
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