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Ugo Attardi, Italian painter, sculptor, engraver and writer, was born in Sori (Genoa) on 12 March 1923 from Sicilian parents, who the year after his birth moved to Palermo where after primary school he enrolled in the Art School. In 1945, after having enrolled in the Faculty of Architecture which he will not attend due to the war, he moved to Rome where he began to paint and two years later he was, with other young artists, among the founders of the Forma 1 group and signatory of the Manifesto of the abstractionism. The first works by Ugo Attardi, of abstract and neocubist inspiration, are exhibited at the Studio d'Arte Moderna, at the Galleria Art Club and participates in the V Quadriennale in Rome (1948). In the fifties, the painter's style evolved towards a realism with strong expressionistic accents like Francis Bacon, actively participating in the Venice Biennials and the Rome quadrennial with growing success. In 1956, after holding a solo show at the La Tartaruga Gallery in Rome, he dedicated part of his time to engravings and, two years later, confirming his political commitment, he began collaborating with the political and cultural newspaper Città Aperta. In the sixties, despite family commitments (from his marriage to Elena Giaconia, two children were born: a female Aura in 1950 and a male Andrea in 1958) actively participates in the Italian artistic and cultural life as a promoter of the group Il Pro e il Contro , participates with the group itself in numerous exhibitions also abroad in Prague, Moscow, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Paris, New York and Cuernavaca. 1967 is the year of his debut as a sculptor with the work Woman caring for a sick child and he finishes the autobiographical novel The Savage Heir that kept him busy for three years. A complete artist, Ugo Attardi continues to paint and exhibit in the Galleries of Rome, while he faces other artistic forms such as the preparation of an Album entitled This crazy murderous world which includes 33 drawings, the wooden bas-relief Addio Che Guevara and works on the great sculptural groups The arrival of Pizzarro which will end in 1971. The seventies begin with a flourish with the publication of his novel "The wild heir", illustrated with his own engravings and which the following year will win the Viareggio prize and continue at a fast pace in the production of grandiose group of wood sculptures such as Cortes and the beauty of the West and The return of Cristobal Colon which will end in 1980. In the two decades preceding his death, which took place in Rome on July 20, 2006, the exhibitions and awards to his works old and new are counted. The works signed by Ugo Attardi, located in the main European capitals, embellish museums and squares. Just to mention a few: "The Vessel of the Revolution", from 1988 is located in Rome at the Palazzo dello Sport; "In the Americas", in 2002 in Buenos Aires; "Ulisse" of 1997 is located in New York; "The Christ" of 2002 became part of the Vatican Museums while a sculpture depicting Aeneas was donated to the Maltese people and placed at the entrance to the port of Valletta. The city of Messina has organized an important exhibition, the first retrospective that takes into consideration all areas of Attardi's artistic production: painting, sculpture, graphics and, of course, literature and journalism entitled "The wild heir". (2011- 2012). “The wild heir” tells of the Sicilian childhood and training of the Sicilian artist of spirit, but born in Liguria. The weight of this “Sicilianity”, understood as a legacy, cultural stimulus and social commitment, is felt in the entire production of Attardi, an intellectual and fine artist, who knows how to cross a complex century of Italian and European art according to his own original path.
