1514 - Bruno Bruni (born 1935 in Gradara)

Bruno Bruni (born 1935 in Gradara) "The Return, 1945." Original title Here, Bruno Bruni has combined the theme of love with contemporary history in a rare and striking way. He depicts, from behind, a man in a trench coat who has happily returned home from World War II in 1945, walking arm in arm with his wife. He has clearly and prominently placed the title at the bottom of the painting, and through the use of Fraktur script and the date 1945, he establishes a direct and emphatic connection to the war. The depiction from behind lends the painting a universal quality: the people remain anonymous; the viewer is left to wonder what happened before, what fears, threats, and internal and external wounds the couple may have been exposed to during the war, only to finally be reunited. In many of his works, Bruni varied the embrace motif, which is highly recognizable. The Italian artist, now internationally renowned and working as a draftsman, graphic artist, painter, and sculptor, attended the Istituto d’Arte in Pesaro from 1953 to 1959. After exhibitions in Pesaro and Florence, Bruni moved to London in 1959 and then to Hamburg in 1960 to attend the State Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied under Georg Gresko until 1962 and subsequently under Paul Wunderlich until 1965 —a decisive step in his artistic development and career. In 1967, he received the Lichtwark Prize scholarship from the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg; since then, he has been honored with numerous awards. In 1977, he received the prestigious “International Senefelder Prize” for his lithographs; in 2003, he was named an Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. He has exhibited his works in numerous solo exhibitions worldwide, including in London, Milan, Brussels, Amsterdam, Tokyo, New York, and Melbourne. Couples and female nudes form a central focus of his art. Oil on canvas; signed and dated (19)80 on the reverse. On the reverse, retitled “Return” and dated 1980; shipping label for the exhibition “Love: Documents of Our Time,” Kunsthalle Darmstadt, 1980. 149.5 cm x 119.5 cm. Framed. Oil on canvas. Signed, titled, and dated 1980. Shipping label for an exhibition in Darmstadt in 1980 on the reverse.