"The search for color" - Carla Accardi (1924-2014)

Artist: Carla Accardi Title: "The search for color" Specimen: XVIII/L Technique: Etching aquatint Dimensions with frame: 105 x 75 cm Carla Accardi (Trapani 1924 - Rome 2014) was one of the first Italian women to dedicate herself to abstractionism and to be known abroad. Initially she was part of the Forma 1 collective, and then continued both alone and occasionally with the MAC group - Movimento Arte Concreta (Concrete Art Movement). Her artistic research is based on two main cornerstones: abstractionism understood as the reduction to the essential of forms and signs, eliminating any symbolic or allegorical meaning of the composition, and the commitment to demonstrate that female artists should not necessarily produce a delicate art in themes and colors because of their gender but on the contrary they should be free to represent strong messages, like their male colleagues. For this reason, the name of Accardi is often linked to activism in favor of feminist ideas. Accardi used canvas, painted with unusual materials, such as casein, and created a series of installations that continued and expanded the work itself in space, demonstrating that working with one technique does not exclude another.