A portrait of Antonio and Xavier Bueno

Villa Bardini is currently hosting a dual exhibition on 20th century artists and brothers Antonio (1918-1984) and Xavier Bueno (1915-1979).

Double Portrait – Antonio and Xavier Bueno. Counterpoints to Reality, From the Avant-Garde to Representation, consists of around 130 works, offering a complete overview of both brothers’ careers, and shedding light on their stylistic similarities and differences.

The sons of an international journalist, the Bueno brothers came to Italy during World War II after spending their childhood in Berlin, Geneva and Paris. In 1940, they arrived in Florence to study its Renaissance heritage, intending to stay only a short while. Both artists, however, ended up living out the rest of their days in the Tuscan capital. 

The exhibition comes after past shows on the Bueno brothers’ artistic peers Pietro Annigoni and Gregory Sciltian. All of these artists were part of the small group that signed the Manifesto of Modern Realist Painters, and the related movement that lasted from 1947 to 1949. Double Portrait is the final exhibition in a series on this group.

The show is open until September 28, 2016.

All photos by Andrea Paoletti