Renzo Vespignani

Renzo Vespignani (Rome, 1924 - 2001) was an Italian painter, printmaker and illustrator linked to Expressionism and Neorealism. He matters because he joined figurative painting with social criticism and the urban reality of postwar Italy.

He grew up in Portonaccio, a working-class suburb of Rome. He began painting during the German occupation of the city, while hiding at the home of Lino Bianchi Barriviera. His 1944 drawings recorded the damage done to occupied Rome in realistic detail, and they were often compared to German Expressionist work. In 1945 he had his first solo show at the Galleria La Margherita in Rome. After the war he worked as an illustrator for political and literary journals, and in 1948 his work reached the United States through New York's Hugo Gallery.

In 1956 he co-founded the magazine Città Aperta, which dealt with the problems of urban culture. His painting then focused on life in the harsh neighborhoods of Rome's periphery. In 1963 he co-founded, with other artists and critics, the group Il Pro e il Contro, a reference point for the new figurative art of the 1960s. He illustrated works by Boccaccio, Kafka and T. S. Eliot, exhibited across Italy, and took part in the Venice Biennale four times. He died on 26 April 2001 while undergoing surgery.