Peter Chinni, Untitled Large Painting (study for a sculpture, 1962

Description

Large brush on paper painting. signed and dated. Rome, Italy 1962. Peter Chinni is an internationally celebrated artist, painter, printmaker … more Large brush on paper painting. signed and dated. Rome, Italy 1962. Peter Chinni is an internationally celebrated artist, painter, printmaker and sculptor of Italian descent. At 19 Chinni enrolled in the Art Students League in New York City where he studied under Kenneth Hayes Miller, Julian Levi, and Edwin Dickinson. Chinni began to travel to Italy where he was accepted into the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome. In 1949. Chinni returned to NYC and worked from a studio in Manhattan in the Carnegie Hall Building. In 1954 Chinni studied privately with painter Felice Casorati in Turin, Italy and later with the cubist sculptor and painter Roberto Melli in Rome. Both of these artists were instrumental in cultivating Chinni’s unique style of painting and his emerging vision for sculptural forms. In 1956, Chinni studied etching with Emilio Sorini at Il Torcoliere, a workshop and gallery in Rome. It was here that he met the American sculptor Jim Wines whose friendship and guidance led him to create his first sculpture in 1957. Chinni’s first sculptural works were inspired by the Italian hill towns and the surrounding ancient landscape, yet reflected his appreciation for the energetic abstractions of Italian Futurism. Chinni soon became well-known for his distinctive bronze and marble sculptures that incorporated interlocking shapes and organic structures. Chinni’s first solo exhibition of paintings was held at Fairleigh Dickenson University in New Jersey in 1958. His first exhibit of sculpture was held in 1959 at the Janet Nessler Gallery in New York, at the Royal Marks Gallery (1964), the Albert Loeb Gallery (1966), the Loeb-Krugier Gallery (1969). He also participated in numerous group shows in the U.S., including the Whitney Museum in New York, The Corcoran Gallery in Washington,D.C. and the Carnegie International in Pittsburgh, PA. In Europe, Chinni has exhibited in Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany and Italy. In 1974 Chinni was invited to show 17 works to the Shah of Iran on the Island of Kish in the Persian Gulf. The Shah eventually acquired four of his sculptures for his private collection. In 1976 Chinni returned to Westchester County yet continued to exhibit his works at galleries throughout the world, including the Hooks-Epstein Gallery (Houston, TX),The Katonah Gallery (Katonah, NY),the Bouma Gallerie (Amsterdam), and the Beeckestijn Museum (Velsen, Netherlands), among others. During this time, Chinni’s works were acquired by the Smithsonian Institution, the Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as many other public and private collections. Throughout the years, Chinni has produced an extensive body of work and has become recognized as a master of many mediums, including paintings, drawings, prints, pastels, and sculpture. Chinni’s paintings reveal a unique talent for rendering still life, figurative compositions and landscapes with a perceptive appreciation for color, light and texture, while expressing a uniquely modern sensibility. His bronze and marble sculptures, for which he is probably best known, convey a spiritual awareness through both abstract and fantastical forms.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:
Whitney Museum of American Art, NY
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
City Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
Hirschorn Museum, Washington, D.C. New Orleans Museum of Art, LA
Nelson Rockefeller Collection,
Boca Raton Museum, FL
Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Ft. Worth, TX

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS:
Pace College, NY Middlebury College, VT
New School for Social Resarch, NYC
Massachussetts Institute of Technology, MA
Columbia University, NYC
Bank of New York, NYC
Chase Manhattan Bank, Rome, Italy less