Where to See Achille Perilli

Works by Achille Perilli can be viewed in several museum collections. In Italy, these include the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, the Museo Archeologico in Venice, and the Museo Nazionale Romano, among others, in Rome. Other Italian^[1] venues include the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice, the Museo Correr e Quadreria Correr in Venice, and the Pinacoteca Provinciale in Bari. Further afield, collections holding his work are the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Princeton University Art Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). You can also find pieces at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. European locations include the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

When considering Achille Perilli's prints, it is useful to understand some basic printmaking terminology and conventions. An "original print" is conceived as a print; it is not a reproduction of a work in another medium, such as painting. Each print in an edition is considered an original. Prints are often produced in limited editions, decided by the artist. Each print in a limited edition is usually numbered and signed, typically in pencil. The numbering indicates the specific print number in relation to the total edition size, such as 12/25, meaning the twelfth print in an edition of twenty-five. Some artists also create artist's proofs, marked "AP", which are outside the numbered edition. The market plays a role in determining the worth of art. The Professional Art Dealers Association of Canada (PADAC) has defined an original print as an image conceived and executed solely as a print, usually in a numbered edition, and signed by the artist. Each print is individually inked and pulled, making it a "multi-original". The intent behind creating an original print is an artistic achievement in itself.

Achille Perilli (1927^[1]-2021^[1]) was part of a generation of Italian^[1] artists who sought new directions after the Second World War. His work is connected to the broader re-evaluation of Italian art, and its relationship to international movements such as Futurism. Perilli co-founded the Forma 1 group in 1947^[1], which advocated abstract art, in contrast to the dominant figurative styles. This was a moment when Italian artists were keenly aware of international trends, yet maintained a strong connection to their cultural heritage. The Futurists, with their emphasis on originality and freedom in art, offered one path forward. Later in his career, Perilli explored the possibilities of geometric abstraction, creating complex, non-representational compositions. His work can be seen as part of a larger trend in Italian art towards structuralism and a break from traditional forms. Interest in Futurism has been revived, and the importance of artists like Perilli, who engaged with and moved beyond it, has grown.

Achille Perilli employed a range of materials and techniques in his artistic practice. He worked with stucco, glass, and dry wood, contrasting these materials to create spatial relationships. Perilli framed panes of glass with stucco, manipulating light and creating a sense of distance. Wax was another material he used, pouring it into boxes or suspending it to explore themes of abandonment and incomprehensibility. He also worked with plaster, incorporating it into structures made of glass panes and iron. The idea of "leaning" was important to Perilli, with objects propped against each other in irrational ways. Perilli also experimented with "achromes", using cloth soaked in kaolin and glue, and later, sewing-machine seams. Other materials included cotton-wool, expanded polystyrene, phosphorescent substances, cobalt chloride, straw, plastic, fur, and rabbit skin. He created "air bodies" (pneumatic sculptures) and sculptures in space using air jets to suspend spheres. In 1960^[1], he created very long lines enclosed in sealed boxes.

Achille Perilli was part of the Forma group of artists, active in Rome from 1947^[1]. Other members included Giulio Turcato, Pietro Consagra, Piero Dorazio, Antonio Sanfilippo, and Carla Accardi. Turcato's work is hard to classify, though his early geometric configurations combined Picasso’s post-Cubist style with the abstractions of Balla. Dorazio visited Balla and inherited a sense of colour ordered in textured patterns. Dorazio's colours were always defined by form, but they developed a new fluidity. The interweaving of his coloured ‘signs’ found a parallel in the work of Mark Tobey. Like Dorazio, Perilli shared an interest in the intellectual foundations of painting. His work relies on a dialogue between geometric rigour and the gestural automatism of the ‘sign’. Accardi's paintings represent an emotional response to the world, expressing vitality through animated brushstrokes and brilliant colours. Her colouristic experiments anticipated the Op Art of the 1960s.

Achille Perilli's artistic development occurred within a milieu influenced by several key figures and movements. Futurism was an important presence. The movement included artists such as Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, and Fortunato Depero; their ideas circulated in Italian^[1] art circles. Perilli was associated with the Gruppo Origine, founded in 1951^[1]. One of its members, Ettore Colla, had worked in the studios of Constantin Brancusi, Henri Laurens, and Charles Despiau in Paris during the 1920s. Colla's transition to geometric abstraction and his use of industrial objects may have provided a precedent for Perilli and others in the group. Perilli's contemporaries included artists such as Lucio Fontana, Piero Dorazio, and Ugo Mastroianni. Their explorations of abstraction and spatial concepts contributed to the broader artistic dialogue within which Perilli worked.

Achille Perilli was associated with several art movements during his career. In 1947^[1], he co-signed the Forma 1 manifesto, aligning himself with other artists, including Carla Accardi and Pietro Consagra. Forma 1, based in Rome, advocated for abstract art, rejecting both figurative art and strict geometric abstraction. Their work aimed to explore new forms and expressions beyond traditional artistic conventions. Perilli was also involved with the Movimento Arte Concreta^[1] (MAC) (Movement of Concrete Art). Founded in Milan in 1948, MAC promoted concrete art, which, according to its proponents, should be entirely abstract and without reference to the visible world. Despite sharing a rejection of referential impurities with MAC, the Forma group did not share MAC's social and political aims. Perilli's work, therefore, exists at the intersection of these different strands of Italian^[1] abstraction.

Achille Perilli (born 1927^[1]) was an Italian^[1] abstract painter. He is known as one of the original members of the Forma group. Forma was founded in 1947^[1] by Perilli, Carla Accardi, Ugo Attardi, Pietro Consagra, Piero Dorazio, Mino Guerrini, Antonio Sanfilippo, and Giulio Turcato. The group advocated for abstract art with a social purpose, rejecting both figurative and purely formal approaches. The group also published a journal, *Forma 1*, which featured a manifesto outlining their aims. Perilli participated in the *Arte astratta e concreta in Italia* (Abstract and Concrete Art in Italy) exhibition in 1951. The show included artists from Forma and Movimento Arte Concreta^[1] (MAC), as well as Alberto Burri, Corrado Cagli, Antonio Corpora, and others.