ENZO RUSSO

Photo courtesy of Janna Fournier and William Evers.

Enzo Russo was born and raised in Florence, Italy. His work as an artist and teacher has influenced a generation of emerging artists in Fairfield County, Connecticut, as well as artists all over the world.

Enzo and his identical twin brother, Germano, attended the School of Fine Arts at the University of Florence (Italy), with its traditional formal training. They were admitted two years before the mandatory age of eighteen, after being granted a special dispensation from the Italian Ministry of Education. The art school was founded by Michelangelo in the city that was the birthplace of the Renaissance and home of many of the history's greatest artists and art works. After graduating cum laude Enzo went on to earn a Master's degree in Mural Art.

As a student in Florence, Enzo was fortunate to have three extraordinary teachers. The first, Ottone Rosai, one of the major Italian artists of that time, had a strong influence in his formation as an artist. Enzo says, ''I learned much from him about balancing the strict rules of academic learning with the search for my own direction.'' The second teacher, Gioavanni Colacicchi, was a living encyclopedia of technical knowledge. His insatiable thirst for learning inpired Enzo's attitude for the intellectual aspect of art. The third teacher, Giorgio de Chirico, the father of surrealism, Enzo considers to be one of the two greatest masters of the 20th Century, the other being Balthus. De Chirico was a man of formidable intellect and outstanding intuitions, who's ''unique vision strongly influenced my early work and lighted my way through the perplexing maze of modern art,'' Enzo recalls. The two men established a long and close friendship.

Enzo was the first European artist to be awarded a grant from the Commonwealth Fund for the Arts. With the grant Enzo made a tour critically assessing the curriculum and quality of art schools in the United States. After his research was completed, Enzo stayed on in the US working as a professional artist. Later his brother Germano joined him here also working as a professional artist.

In 1968, with the sponsorship of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Smithsonian Institution and by the Pulitzer prize art historian Oliver Larking, Enzo received ''distinguished foreigner status'' and was accorded American citizenship.

Enzo's early work shows a distinctive fascination with the lure and world of dreams, a period in which he began to discover his instinctive affinities with the premise of modern surrealism and of metaphysical painting. Similar to de Chirico, his mentor, Enzo maintains that throughout history the greatest portraits are intrinsically surreal, in that they stand between the represented illusion of the physical reality and the intangible factors of the subject's persona.

In this respect, he believes that the visual arts' greatest masterpieces are, most of the time, simply portraits. Except when it comes to the representation of the Royalties, he insists, portraiture is inevitably more honest, true to life, free of pomposity and melodrama than we see in the compositions of small and great masters. Russo believes portraiture is also wealthier in acute observations of life and reality.

Through decades of work, Russo has developed a highly personal method for discerning hidden clues leading to the subject's true persona. He generally devotes a full session to the art of conversation, in which a number of specific questions are interjected randomly, all aimed at revealing intimate, less visible details of the subject's psychological profile. The vast size of his portraits serves to reveal those intimate details. Russo explains, ''Such a magnification process amounts to a powerful light reaching those unique aspects. The human face is nature's most complex and awesome architecture. Penetrating its intricate details helps us understand its glorious engineering''.

Enzo Russo has taught in Florence; at Finch College, NYC; University of Colorado; Rosewood Arts Centre, Kettering, Ohio; and now at the Studio School of the Greenwich Art Society, Greenwich, Connecticut.

It should be noted that Enzo Russo's twin brother, Germano Russo, recently deceased, was also a fine artist. Both brothers carried on an important career in the art world throughout the U.S.

Prizes and Awards:

The National Quadrienna of Rome, Italy (at 18 years of age).

The International Biennale of Venice, (special
prize of the President of the Republic to an artist
under 21 years of age).

The Diomira Drawing prize, Civic Museum of
Milan, Italy.

The Michetti Prize, Civitavecchia, Italy.
''Premio del Fiorino'' (National Panoramic, Exhibition).

''Premio del Fiorino (National Panoramic
Exhibition'').

Purchase Prize by Marzotto collection.

First prize from The National Academy of the Art
of Drawing (co-awarded with Germano Russo,
twin brother of Enzo Russo).

The Salzburg Seminar in American Art Fellowship
(co-awarded with Germano Russo).

Life Fellow member of the Commonwealth Fund
Foundation, in New York.

The Commonwealth Fund Fellowship Grant, after
sponsorship by Pulitzer Prize Art Historian Oliver
Larkin (a by invitation only award).

Exhibitions in the U.S.A:

The World House Gallery, New York.
The Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York.
The Smithsonian institution, Collection of Fine Arts.
The Contemporaries, New York.
The Rolly-Michaux Gallery, Boston.

Collections:

The John Rolly Collection, Boston.
The Adolph & Emilia Brenner Collection, Boston
The Joseph Shlupf Collection, Boston.
The Ann Rockefeller Collection, Chicago.
The Paula Cooper Collection, Chicago.
The Martin Poll Collection, Los Angeles.
The Gary Cooper Collection, Los Angeles.
The John and Stephania Mc Peack Collection.
The Robert Young Collection.

Greenwich, Connecticut Collections

Susan Kalla Collection
Tom & Roosevelt collection
The Gordon Burns Collection
Sean and Virginia Day Collection

Professional affiliations and related art activities:

The School of Fine Arts of the University of Florence, Italy
Long Island University at the South Hampton Campus
The University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
Rosewood Art Center, Kettering, Ohio
Catan-Rose Art Center& School, Bellrose, LI
Greenwich Art Society, Greenwich, CT
Continuing Education, Greenwich, CT
Continuing Education, Darien, CT

TESTIMONIALS OF ENZO RUSSO'S STUDENTS

Marialiisa Pettengill - Enzo is very knowledgeable about painting techniques and materials as well as art history and current trends in art. I had studied painting for years in Paris and Japan before I encountered Enzo. I can say that he gave me my first real lesson on how to paint, how to find my own vocabulary, my unique expression - including a more dynamic signature, which, he points out, is part of the painting after all.

Elenor White - Enzo is a wonderful teacher and a magician with a paint brush. He has great patience and a good sense of humor with his students. He has a strong rapport with them. He would often say about our Monday morning class that we, his students, were his family, and we cared greatly about him and would worry about and pray for him. He is a person of enormous energy some of which was enough to give me a jump-start at the beginning of class. Enzo is indeed a wonderful teacher.

Faye Keegan - Enzo taught me to draw by teaching me to see. I worked with him for two years, and although I am only 17 now, I credit him for my current love of and achievement in art. He taught me how to look at the things around me and see lines, proportions, and colors, instead of looking around and seeing objects or people. Just like him, I can often be seen holding my hand out in front of me, clutched around a pencil, and measuring the lengths of whatever I am drawing. Every time I begin drawing I do exactly what he taught me to do: first drawing in the axes, then the key points on the figure, then the sketch and so on. It is without doubt that every time I pick up a pencil, I think of him, his methods and his delighted "Wunderbar!"

Helen Musante - Maestro Enzo's guidance and advice enabled me to develop my painting skills far beyond the point from which I started learning from him.

Susan Kalla: If wisdom is the combination of intellect, understanding of human nature and ability to assess a situation, Enzo is the wisest person I know. I met Enzo when I took a two year sabbatical from my career as a Wall Street technology analyst. From him, I learned that art is closer to a science than my financial work, which I now believe is more of an art. He can transfer life to canvas with the same precision as engineers who have built the worlds' largest structures.

David Renton - Enzo has great insight into my marine painting focus even though he is not a sailor. His subtle perceptions never cease to amaze me. His focus on being ''painterly'' and the application of proper quantities of paint with descriptive brush strokes put the ''water, salt and wind'' on my canvas.

Peter Robinson - When I decided to pursue art, five years ago upon my retirement at the age of 60, it was my good fortune to stumble onto Enzo Russo, who became my first and remains my most influential teacher. He quickly and expertly took me from the periphery of the painting experience to its very center, where it transformed my life.

Eline de Jonge - Enzo forever changed my life. He is the only teacher that really taught me to be an artist in heart and soul and to take work seriously. Art is now as essential to me as eating and drinking and has given me so much more dimension in life. No matter where I am in this world; I hear his voice. Whether it is being in a museum, researching new sources for my work, or when I am painting in Holland; he looks over my shoulder and whispers in my ear. I am very grateful for Enzo's continuing inspiration and I am constantly amazed by his art.

PUBLICATIONS

Robinson, Peter S.; Renton, David M.; De Jonge, Eline; Oil Painting Principles and Techniques --- Lessons of Enzo Russo, To be published Summer 2007.

Webmaster - http://www.YourWWWpage.com