Bruno Cassinari (1912-1992) Italian. "Figura, 1953", Oil on paper laid down, Signed, and signed, inscribed and dated 1953 verso, 19.5" x 15.25" (49.5 x 38.8cm). Notes: Following his studies at Gazzola Art School to become an intaglio artist, at seventeen Cassinari became a student at the Humanitarian school in Milan under Bogiardi and took evening classes at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan. In 1934 he enrolled at the Brera Academy as a pupil of Aldo Carpi taking his diploma in 1938. The following year he won the National Award for young painters and joined the Corrente Group. He held his first personal exhibition in Milan a decade later and the same year moved to Antibes where he remained until 1952. It was while in Antibes he met Picasso and his style of painting changed from the tonal qualities in the spirit of the traditional Lombard painters in favour of a prismatic and strident colouration. His friendship with Picasso led to a one-man show in 1950 at the Musee Picasso in Antibes. He won the Grand Prize for Painting at the Venice Biennale with his Cubist-inspired paintings 'The Lemon' and 'Still Life in Pink'.