Grazie Presidente. Un grande piacere come sempre ascoltarti.

Grazie a Vasari e alla presidente Svidini

Ciao cugino Antonio. Sei fantastico! Quanta strada!!!

What is the music?

001 - ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF VIDEO CONTENT Voice over by Antonio Di Tommaso - Recording time from 00m: 19s to 01m: 55s My first studio was in Via Ricasoli in front of the Accademy. In an apartment on the last floor. The owners were the Leoncini. It was directly in front of the Accademia di Belle Arti. The building had 4 floors. My friend Roberto Ciabani was there & other painters worked in the small apartments. We were always together. We lived as artists, enthusiastic young artists. In 1970 with Ciabani we went to Salzburg to the International Academy established by Kokoschka. It was a wonderful experience and it really helped us abandon tradition. It inspired a renewed research. In Salzburg I met Marcello Mascherino. One of the greatest Italian sculptors of the 1900s who had works all over Europe. He was an extraordinary person. [Music and images] Recording time from 01m: 54s to 02m: 14s Voice of Antonio Di Tommaso - Recording time from 02m: 15s to 02m: 22s In 1962 I arrived in Florence with this suitcase... It was all I had when I arrived. First written superimposed on the piano - Recording time from 02m: 31s to 02m: 48s In the studio we are surrounded by testimonies of works amassed together depicting various and often differing periods and techniques Voice of Antonio Di Tommaso - Recording time from 02m: 48s to 04m: 03s I started with figurative. I had one of the greatest teachers of Florentine tradition, Antonio Berti. From 1962 to 1966 at the Accademia Delle Belle Arti, Florence. I also worked for some time in his studio in Sesto Fiorentino. I chose Florence to really learn. In 1962 my interest was to learn more about Renaissance Art up to Neoclassicism and so I chose Florence. At first I was unsure about going to Milan to learn under Marino Marini at the Accademia. I attended all the studies of the teachers and artists who lived in Piazza Donatello. I loved all that I saw and this is the best way to learn. Second writing superimposed on the piano - Recording time from 03m: 58s to 04m: 16s In the silent language of all that has been collected and amassed together, the lengthy and varied works find their most appropriate and fascinating narration. Voice of Antonio Di Tommaso - Recording time from 04m: 18s to 05m: 06s I had the opportunity to meet important artists who supported me and my work, Primo Conti, Antonio Berti, Gualtiero Nativi, and especially Quinto Martini. The coffee is hot, we need to let it cool a bit… Third writing superimposed on the piano - Recording time from 05m: 08s to 05m: 20s His restless research allowed him to move into abstract and informal fields, tirelessly experimenting the metamorphosis of shapes. [Music and images] Recording time from 05m: 20s to 08m: 22s Voice of Antonio Di Tommaso - Recording time from 08m: 23s to 08m: 44s I’ve lived here, in the heart of Florence since 1973. The first time I came to view this apartment, I was struck with awe when I saw Brunelleschi’s dome: It was as if I was touching it with my hands. TITLES IN THE QUEUE with final note written by Cristina Acidini Recording time from 08m: 48s to 10m: 03s To be welcomed by Antonio Di Tommaso in his studio, is to travel through a sequence of rooms that from the road take you to the heart of the atelier. It is a journey through his life as an artist and as a professor, amongst drawings and sculptures in every possible state, from initial concept to a finished piece of work. Books, of art and especially art history books, accompany the creative activity. Like every sculptor, Di Tommaso is a master of drawing, an instrumental skill that guides each project in order for it to be realised in 3D, preparing in advance the proportions, volumes and chiaroscuro effects. Even his drawings, as well as the sculptures, demonstrate the history of his uninterrupted artistic activity: in the studio one is surrounded by these testimonies amassed together, sitting next to and mixed amongst works often from various and differing periods and techniques. Like many sculptors from his generation, Di Tommaso started as a skilled figurative and excellent portraitist, formed under the mastership of Antonio Berti, who marked many Florentine artists or those that trained in Florence. However his restless research allowed him to move into abstract and informal fields, tirelessly experimenting the metamorphosis of shapes. His creations manifest a reoccurring oscillation between inspiration from nature - that can be seen as rippling flames in his sculptures or facets of diamonds, or the pleats of a bellow and so forth - and a tension towards the purity of absolute volume, that draws in the air its own profiles, be it within dimensions of objects for indoors, be it in the grandiose proportions of those for land art installations. With its long telescope-like shape, in the middle of the Santa Croce neighbourhood, Di Tommaso’s studio welcomes students, visitors and even curious tourists: however when the shutter is closed, the studio becomes isolated and protected, like a medieval castle ready for a siege. In the silent language of all that has been collected and amassed together, the lengthy and varied works find their most appropriate and fascinating narration. Cristina Acidini President of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno of Florence Music Claude Debussy “Clair de lune” Esecuzione al pianoforte di Paul Barton Claude Debussy “Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune” François-Xavier Roth & London Symphony Orchestra Antonio Di Tommaso www.antonioditommaso.it/ [email protected] A video by Carlo Isola [email protected] Firenze 2020

Bellissimo video, costruito con equilibrio tra immagini, voce, musica e testi! Un assaggio del percorso di un vero artista.

“Clair de lune” di Claude Debussy è stata eseguita al pianoforte dall’amico Paul Barton, ovvero “l’uomo che suona agli elefanti”. Paul Barton è uno splendido artista di fama internazionale che con gioia, mi ha permesso di applicare la sua esecuzione al pianoforte, avendo inoltre profonda stima per l’opera di Antonio Di Tommaso.

Grazie.

Bello!