Rinaldo Paluzzi Explained

Rinaldo Paluzzi (May 16, 1927 – March 27, 2013) was an American-Spanish Abstract Art and Geometric abstraction painter and sculptor in the post-World War II era. He was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and died in Madrid, Spain.

Paluzzi’s works are in a number of permanent collections, from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden at the Smithsonian to the Union Fenosa Museum of Contemporary Art in Coruna, Spain.^[1]

Education and works

After serving in the U.S. Navy during WWII, he was a student at the John Herron School of Art (now part of Indiana University) from 1948 to 1950. He then left to attend the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, Italy, until the end of 1951. After returning to Herron, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1953. He remained at the school, where he was awarded a Master of Fine Arts in 1957.

The following is from the Herron Chronicle (published in 2003).

Upon their return to Greensburg, a local gallery devoted a showing in Indianapolis to all 65 paintings he had finished during that year away.

He is best known in the United States for Totem, a 32x sculpture located in Celebration Plaza, White River State Park, Indianapolis, Indiana. Made of stainless steel, it is a triangular-shaped vertical tube with triangular and trapezoidal cut-outs in the steel. It was constructed in 1982, and sits centered atop a concrete circle, 40 feet in diameter, with a sundial face.

According to his obituary in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, he was "internationally known for his artistic talents and his paintings and sculptures are on display in Amsterdam. Paris, Spain, Switzerland, California and Indiana."^[2]

Exhibitions

Most recent individual exhibitions

• 1998 Fundación Caja de Granada, Sala Triunfo, Granada.
• 1998 Galeria Aele-Evelyn Botella, Madrid.
• 2000 Centro Municipal de Exposiciones, Instituto Municipal de Cultura, Elche (Alicante).

Most recent collective exhibitions

• 2002 "Reds" Galeria Aele-Evelyn Botella, Madrid.
• 2002 "Dialogos", Concejalia de Cultura de Majadahonda, Majadahonda, Madrid.
• 2003 "Nueve de nuevo" Ballesol, Principe de Vergara, Madrid.
• 2004 "La poética de Cuenca", 40 años después, Centro Cultural de la Villa, Madrid.
• 2005 "Sempere entre amics", Universidad de Alicante, Museo de la Universidad de Alicante
• 2005 "Summertime", Galeria Aele-Evelyn Botella, Madrid.
• 2014 “El trabajo de lo visible”, Galería Odalys, Madrid

Museum collections

• Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California.^[3]
• Carnegie Museum of Art Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.^[4]
• Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis.^[5]
• Evansville Museum, Evansville, Indiana.^[6]
• Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, Pennsylvania.^[7]
• Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, Tennessee.
• Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.^[8]
• Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden at the Smithsonian^[9]
• Museo de Art Contemporaneo Union Fenosa, La Coruña, Spain
• Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois ^[10]
• Fundación Juan March, Madrid
• Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN^[11]

External links

• Smithsonian's Save Outdoor Sculpture! survey of "Totem"
• A sketch of "Totem" acquired by the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
• "Rinaldo Paluzzi: El humanista constructivo"
• "Rinaldo Paluzzi" film by Galder Arriaga"
• "Resultados de la búsqueda"
• "El Travajo de La Visible"

Notes and References

1. http://www.javierbmartin.com/index.php/pintores-javier-b-martin/222-rinaldo-paluzzi
2. Web site: TribLIVE Obituaries - Paluzzi, Rinaldo 85 . obituaries.triblive.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150402145129/http://obituaries.triblive.com/listing/223617/Rinaldo-Paluzzi/ . 2015-04-02.
3. Web site: Search the Museum's Website » Norton Simon Museum.
4. Web site: Carnegie Museum of Art .
5. Web site: Search Indianapolis Museum of Art . www.imamuseum.org . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150412175238/http://www.imamuseum.org/search/ima/Rinaldo . 2015-04-12.
6. The Evansville Museum has one work by Mr. Rinaldo Paluzzi, a lithograph made in 1957 titled “Tevere, Rome, Italy”. The work was purchased in 1961 from the museum’s Mid-States Art Exhibition
7. http://collection.wmuseumaa.org/Art476?sid=1029&x=96905
8. Purdue University Galleries has one work signed on the back, titled "Spatial Construction and dated Madrid 1973." It is constructed of 2 wood panels 150cm high and 75cm wide, hinged together, so it would be 150cm wide if flattened out.
9. Web site: Collection Search.
10. Web site: Krannert Art Museum | Krannert Art Museum.
11. Web site: Permanent Art Collection Inventory | Indiana State University.