Alberto martini biography

Alberto Martini (November 24, 1876 – November 8, 1954) was an Italian painter, engraver, illustrator and graphic designer. Critics have described Martini's range of work from "elegant and epic" to "grotesque and macabre" and consider him one of the precursors of Surrealism.

Early life

Martini was born in Oderzo, Veneto and received his early training in drawing and painting from his father, who was a portrait painter[1] and a professor of drawing at the Istituto Technico in Treviso.[2]

Career

Much of his career was spent illustrating famous literary works.

In 1895 he began the first series of illustrations for Luigi Pulci's Morgante Maggiore and for Alessandro Tassoni's La secchia rapita. During this time he had his first exhibit which was a series of fourteen paintings from the anthology La corte dei miracoli at the Venice Biennale in 1897, where his drawings of beggars were described as "picturesquely grotesque".[1] In 1898 he moved to Mo