Armando Baldinelli was born in Acona, Italy in 1908. He began his studies in Rome in 1925 where he was inspired by the creativity of the the 1920s, in which years through to the 1930s in which there was continued development and evolution of the key innovations of the primary years of the twentieth century. To have this time as the formative period for an artist was to be surrounded by innovative practitioners of the pictorial arts. It was also a time of recovery and introspection after the horrors of the First World War, which saw significant shifts in the political world. Marxism was a widespread political ideology which was also extremely influential amongst artists and their communities. In 1938 he executed a fresco for the Biennale Hall of the 21st Venice Biennale (now in the Venice Naval Academy). In 1953 he visited South Africa and decided to settle in Johannesburg. In 1960 he won national South African competition for two mosaics for the Transvaal Provincial Administration Headquarters Building. Further commissions were for the St John Vianney Seminary in Waterkloof, Pretoria (1957); the facade and apse of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Durban (1959); Ocean Terminal (1960); facade and apse of the Maryvale Church, Johannesburg (1960); Stations of the Cross St John Vianney Seminary in Waterkloof, Pretoria (1963); Foyer of the Addington Hospital, Durban (1963); New Corner House, , Johannesburg (1966); Stone Painting in the Foyer of the Santam Building, Johannesburg (1967);Hyde Park Centre, Johannesburg (1971); Bank of Lisbon, Pretoria (1971); Jan Smuts Airport (1974); Van Erkom Building, Pretoria (1974); Natal Provincial Administration Building, Pietermaritzburg (1981); Southern Suns Airport Hotel, Jan Smuts, Johannesburg (1981); painted mural, Opera Theatre Foyer, State Theatre, Pretoria (1981) (Berman 1983:53-54).
(Artland, accessed 2022 03 03)
[See Obituary by Chris Barron downloaded from Sunday Times (Johannesburg) article dated 4th August, 2002]. List of projects With photographs
With notes
Corner House, New: 1964. Johannesburg, Gauteng - Artist
| Killarney Hills: n.d.. Killarney, Johannesburg, Gauteng - Artist
| St Mary of the Wayside Catholic Church: 1959. Maryvale, Johannesburg, Gauteng - Artist
|
Books citing BALDINELLI Berman, Esmé. 1983. Art and artists of South Africa: An illustrated biographical dictionary and historical survey of painters, sculptors and graphic artists since 1875. Cape Town : Balkema. pp 14, 15, 18 ill, 39, 46 ill, 57 opp. ill, 48, 49, 53-56 + ills; 106, 206, 227, 299 ill, 375, 474, 515, 516, 517, 519
|
|