- Donati, Enrico
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▪ 2009Italian-born American painter and sculptorborn Feb. 19, 1909, Milan, Italydied April 25, 2008, New York, N.Y.was the last surviving member of the group of European artists who gathered in New York City at the outbreak of World War II and helped usher in the Surrealist movement in the U.S. Though he initially began his career as a composer, Donati fled fascist Italy and settled in Paris, where his musical career was eclipsed by his growing interest in anthropology. After exploring the American Southwest and Canada to collect Indian artifacts, he settled in New York City, working as a commercial artist and printer. Upon his return to Paris, he became fascinated by the Surrealist movement, but when war broke out in 1939, he moved back to New York City. There André Breton, the foremost disciple of Surrealism, welcomed Donati into the fold of followers. Emblematic of Donati's work during this period was St. Elmo's Fire (1944), which featured odd organic formations that were reminiscent of underwater life. When Surrealism began to fade, Donati reinvented himself as a Constructivist, and he later dabbled in Abstract Expressionism. In the 1950s he began experimenting with surface and texture and frosted canvases with paint mixed with sand, dust, coffee grounds, and debris picked up from his vacuum cleaner, which was combined with pigment and glue. His Moonscapes series represented this phase. In the 1960s the fossil became a major inspiration, and he infused his Fossil canvases with vibrant colour. Donati's work was given a major retrospective in 1961 at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. In addition to his art, Donati became (1965) the owner of the French perfume company Houbigant Inc., which he was credited with revitalizing; in 1978 the concern was valued at $50 million.
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Universalium. 2010.
