A great painter exhibits his works at Centrepoint

The painter Alvaro de Taddeo (born 1957) from Basel attended the Humanistic Gymnasium Basel, completed a preparatory course at the Basel School of Applied Arts and then an apprenticeship as a window dresser. From 1999 to 2022 he worked part-time to earn a living and otherwise devoted himself to his artistic work which he has exhibited in numerous shows in the greater Basel area.

Alvaro de Taddeo

His main source for his imagery is literature. His working method is therefore very time-consuming, as his paintings are not created spontaneously but result from a long process. He reads extensively, develops the idea for a painting over several years and refers to Theodor Adorno, “Art is magic, freed from the lie of being truth.”

Alvaro de Taddeo, stained glass work

Since he was keen to work with stained glass he initially began experimenting with collage techniques, creating images from black cardboard and transparent colored paper. He was interested in religious themes in the style of traditional Christian church windows and mosaics. In 1990 he began painting pictures on cardboard using watercolour and gouache techniques.

Alvaro de Taddeo, ‘Summer”, 1999. Photo: Alvaro de Taddeo

In his paintings the clearly defined black contours and the monochrome surface have been retained as a key element but his subjects have expanded to include folklore, classical theatre and views of Italy and Basel. In the flat compositions, devoid of depth and avoiding volume, the figurative scenes are rendered with skilful drawing and a nuanced sense of colour.

He captures the movements of his figures, primarily from the plays of William Shakespeare, with skilfully sweeping lines and foreshortened perspectives. He plays with both the degree of salience and the richness of detail in the individual pictorial elements – inspired by French Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Art Nouveau, as well as by Baroque pictorial ideas.

In his exhibition (8 April – 21 May) at Centrepoint he presents works with cycles of images from Shakespeare’s plays as well as visions from the Bible and views of Basel.

(Text: Elke Seibert Michel)

Alvaro de Taddeo, post cards