ARTIST - the beginnings

GIORGIO QUINTINI - ARTIST

Giorgio started in the art world early on in life and continued drawing and painting into old age (some of his later works will be added to this blog at a later date). He also ran galleries and wrote many catalogue notes which have probably been lost. Any account here will be partial and perhaps others will be able to add to it with more authority.
He seems to have started publicly in the late 50s & early 60s. Here is a short biographical note and appreciation from a solo exhibition of his in Florence (1960) at the Galleria d'Arte Internazionale. The themes of his paintings did not change for his last works are accretions of stones or crystals.

His first exhibition at the Open Gate club was with his friend Giò Stajano and an account of it by Stajano is affixed beneath these photographs.

The sort of applied art he was producing was rather typical of the period. Here are some lamps and other decorative items from the "Boutique a Palazzo Pucci" in Florence in 1961.

At the same time these two photographs show the "Stand di Giorgio Quintini" at the "Mostra dell'Artigianato" in Florence in 1961.

Here is a close up of a Quintini vase or lamp base of the period.

"Con inchiostro di china, smalti e polverine dorate, Giorgio creava splendidi e sofisticati disegni su grandi fogli di carta pergamenata, con i quali confezionava originalissimi paralumi di grande effetto decorativo. Anch'io, al tempo, ero convinto di saper dipingere. Così allestimmo una mostra insieme, nelle sale dell'Open Gate.  I disegni di Giorgio furono tutti venduti. Dei miei quadri nessuno." (annotazione di GQP nella mia copie: "BUGIA!")

from La mia vita scandalosa by Giò Stajano, Sterling & Kupfer (1992) pp.56-7.

The influence of the paintings of WOLS (1913-1951), whose work Giorgio got to know in Paris, where he knew the painter's widow, is clear.