Emilio Pettoruti

Topics: Argentine artists, Italian-Argentines

Emilio Pettoruti was an Argentine painter, who caused a scandal with his avant-garde cubist exhibition in 1924 in Buenos Aires. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Buenos Aires was a city full of artistic development. Pettoruti's career was thriving during the 1920s when "Argentina witnessed a decade of dynamic artistic activity; it was an era of euphoria, a time when the definition of modernity was developed." Marcelo Pacheco, "Argentina" Edited by Edward J. Sullivan. In Latin American Art in the Twentieth Century. , 284. Previously, he had been awarded, in 1912, a traveling scholarship to Italy, where he met the Futurist artists, and also exhibited at Herwarth Waldens Der Sturm Gallery in Berlin. In Paris, he met Juan Gris, who influenced him to paint in a cubist style. While Pettoruti was influenced by cubism, futurism, constructivism, and abstraction, he did not claim to paint in any of those styles in particular. Exhibiting all over Europe and Argentina, Emilio Pettoruti is remembered as one of the most influential artists in Argentina in the 20th century for his unique style and vision.

In 1938, Pettoruti showed at the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires at an exhibition titled Tres Expresiones de la Pintura Contemporanea. The show included works from Pettoruti, Badi, and Spilimbergo.

In 1942, Pettoruti traveled to San Francisco for his first North American show at the San Francisco Museum of Art. The museum bought his Coparmonica (1937) and Quinteto (1927). It was an influential show for his career, since it began his spread in North America, where other museums and private collectors inquired about his work.