Flowers

Mario Mafai (1902-1965) cultivated an artistic vocation by attending evening classes at the Preparatory School for the Ornamental Arts of the City of Rome. In 1924, he met Gino Bonichi (who from 1929 would be known as Scipione), beginning an association that lasted almost ten years until his untimely death in 1933. Mafai and Bonichi attended the Scuola Libera del Nudo, annexed to the Accademia di Belle Arti in via Ripetta, where between 1924 and 1925 they met Antonietta Raphaël, a musician, and artist originally from Lithuania who grew up in England. Cultured, exuberant, and cosmopolitan, Raphaël introduced Mafai and Bonichi to the painters of the École de Paris: Kisling, Chagall, Utrillo, and Soutine. In 1927, Mafai and Raphaël moved into an apartment on Via Cavour, an address from which Roberto Longhi coined the term "School of Via Cavour," indicating a diverse group of artists active in Rome, characterized by expressive painting as opposed to the then official art movements, such as the Novecento and “Valori Plastici”. Mafai, through tonal painting with warm accents, depicts Rome in images of poignant intimism and subtle denunciation, portraying the demolitions conducted by the fascist regime on the centuries-old urban fabric of the Eternal City. In the 1930s, Mafai embarked on a new pictorial phase, finding in the theme of flowers which was for him an ideal source of inspiration. This interest marks the transition from gloomy impasto, derived from the influence of the Old Masters, to clear painting and constitutes a reflection on life and death.