Ottone Rosai (1895-1957)
Born in Florence, Rosai was educated at the Institute of Decorative Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts, from which he was dismissed after a disagreement with a teacher. He was introduced to the Futurists by his literary Florentine friends and exhibited works in the Futurist style in 1914. Wounded in the First World War, he produced portraits of soldiers and still lifes and recorded his experiences in two books published after the war. Although he exhibited with the Futurists in 1919, Rosai soon adopted a solemn figurative style and became friends with Soffici. His output slowly diminished during the 1920s, and an exhibition in 1930 was a financial failure. Rosai stopped painting for a year and in 1932 ended his longterm friendships with Soffici, Papini and Carrà. He adopted a new Impressionist style and his pastoral scenes sold with unprecedented success. Having always aligned himself with the Fascist movement, Rosai was attacked by anti- Fascists in 1943 and forced to abandon his teaching post in Florence. Returning to landscape painting after the war, Rosai enjoyed international success throughout the rest of his life.
