Leonardo Ricci

Leonardo Ricci (1918 - 1994), was a multifaceted artist, whose contributions to post-war architecture in Italy cemented him as one of the great 20th century polymaths. Best known for his architectural feats of the organic-expressionist and brutalist movements, his intense and multifaceted creative career began with painting, which remained a powerful creative practice throughout his life and career. He produced works that are expressionistic and founded in existential thought. He showed with galleries such as Numero, La Vigna Nuova, and Quadrante between 1961 and 1964, In 2019, the prestigious Museo del Novecento held an exhibition dedicated to Ricci.

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The historical significance of Ricci’s paintings lies in their ability to bridge eras and disciplines. Ricci’s pictorial output reflects an architectural intelligence translated into surface—an exploration of space that migrates from built form to canvas and infused with existential feeling. As a legendary professor at Florence University and MIT, he produced works that are at once architectural in thought and painterly in execution. The presentation will include a curated selection of Ricci’s richly textured works, at times of overwhelming dimension, that reflect this unique mid-century period of Florentine art history.