Stanislao Lepri

STANISLAO LEPRI (Rome, 1905- Paris, 1980).
"Costume design for L'Armida".
Gouache and watercolor on paper.
Signed and inscribed "L'Armida" in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 44 x 30,5 cm; 66 x 52 cm (frame).

The chance meeting with the artist Leonor Fini (with whom he would later maintain a three-way relationship together with the Polish essayist Kot Jelénski) in 1941 in Paris changed the life of Stanislao Lepri, who at that time held the post of Italian consul in the Principality of Monaco. A year earlier, in 1940, also in the French capital, Lepri had befriended artists such as Picasso, Ernst and Breton, whose influence can be seen in his later works. Framed in the surrealist movement, his art speaks of fears, desires and anxieties, all marked by a sharp and satirical irony. Lepri was also a stage designer and theater artist. Among his creations are the scenes of Voyage aux états de la Lune from Cyrano de Bergerac and, in 1950, the costumes for L'Armida in Florence for the Maggio Fiorentino. He is considered a latter-day bohemian, whose paintings were exhibited throughout Europe and at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Currently his work can be found at the Centre Pompidou in Paris or at the MoMA in New York.