{{Short description|American painter (1943–2005)}}
{{Infobox artist | name = Carlo Pittore | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Charles J. Stanley | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes| 1943 |05|14}} | birth_place = Queens, New York | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes| 2005 |07|17|1943 |05|14}} | death_place = | resting_place= | resting_place_coordinates = | field = Painting, drawing | training = School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, Chelsea College of Arts | movement = Mail Art | works = Boxer series,<ref name=PRESS/> La Buffonera<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/attractions/carlo-pittore-leslie-lohman-museum-of-gay-and-lesbian-art-december-22-2010 |title=Carlo Pittore |last=Out |first=Time |date=December 22, 2010 |publisher=www.timeout.com |access-date=July 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180427120501/https://www.timeout.com/newyork/attractions/carlo-pittore-leslie-lohman-museum-of-gay-and-lesbian-art-december-22-2010 |archive-date=April 27, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | patrons = | awards = Max Beckmann Scholarship, Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts | spouse = }}
'''Carlo Pittore''' (May 14, 1943 – July 17, 2005) born '''Charles J. Stanley'''<ref name=MoMA>{{cite web |url=https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/lostandfound/ |title=Lost and Found |last=Morrison |first=Rachael |date=January 1, 2010 |publisher=MoMA.org |access-date=July 18, 2017 }}</ref> was an American painter, educator, art activist,<ref name=COLLEGE/> and publisher,<ref name=LOMHOLT>{{cite web |url=http://www.lomholtmailartarchive.dk/networkers/carlo-pittore |title=INDEX: Carlo Pittore |last=Lomholt|first=Niels |date=January 1, 2014 |publisher=www.lomholtmailartarchive.dk |access-date=July 19, 2017 }}</ref> whose primary study, teaching and body of work was figurative art and portrait painting. He was a pioneer in the Mail Art movement,<ref name=PORTER>{{cite book |last=Schevill |first=James |date=1992 |title=Where to Go, What to Do, When You Are Bern Porter: A Personal Biography |publisher=Tilbury House Publishers |pages=129–132 |isbn=9780884481263 }}</ref> and is noted for opening the first independent art gallery in the East Village, Manhattan. In 1987, Pittore founded "The Academy of Carlo Pittore" in Bowdoinham, Maine. He died of cancer in 2005.
==Early life== Pittore (née Charles Stanley) was born to Stanford and Estelle Stanley in Queens, New York. He grew up on Long Island, in Port Washington, New York<ref name=BOLLARD>{{cite web |url=http://thebollard.com/2009/05/09/carlo-pittores-last-round/ |title=Carlo Pittore's last round? |last=Busby|first=Chris |date=May 9, 2009 |publisher=The Bollard |access-date=July 18, 2017 }}</ref> with his sister Marion and brother Elliott.
==Early education== Pittore graduated from Port Washington High School (1961), where he was active in the political and debating scenes. He then went on to graduate from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts (1966), and post graduate from the Brooklyn Museum Art School (1978).<ref name=CLAMPART>{{cite web |url=https://clampart.com/2014/04/carlo-pittore-1943-2005/ |title=Carlo Pittore (1943-2005) |last=Art|first=Clamp |date=July 17, 2005 |publisher=info@clampart.com |access-date=July 18, 2017 }}</ref>
Pittore changed his name in the 1970s while studying abroad in Rome, Italy. The children nicknamed him "Carlo Pittore", (”Charles the Painter").<ref name=BOLLARD/> From there he went on to study at the Chelsea College of Arts in London.
In 1978, Pittore received the Max Beckmann Scholarship in Advanced Painting. It allowed him to begin studying with American feminist painter Joan Semmel at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. He also studied with visual portrait artist Alice Neel.<ref name=PRESS/> After which, he taught art at the New York Cultural Foundation.
==Career== In the 1970s, Pittore and his close friend Bern Porter published mail art under the stamp series “Post Me”, which he published through "Pittore Euforico, New York".<ref name=PORTER/> Pittore also published such works as "Maine Moments in New York" (1979), "Colleagues" (1979), The Adventures of Carlo Pittore" (1979) and "Salva la Campagna Romana" (1982). Pittore illustrated the book ‘’Bern! Porter! Interview!’’ with original rubber and mail stamps.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dunbar |first=Margaret |date=January 1, 1983 |title=Bern! Porter! Interview! |url=https://www.abebooks.com/Bern-Porter-Interview-Bernard-Harden-conducted/15461759012/bd |location=USA |publisher=Dog Ear Press |page=72 |isbn=9780937966082 }}</ref>
Pittore opened “The Galleria dell ' Occhio” in 1980.<ref name=PORTER/> It was the first independent art gallery in the East Village, New York City. Well known as a street level window art space open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,<ref name=LOMHOLT/> it was during this time that Pittore met and became acquainted with artists such as Chuck Welch (a.k.a. the Cracker Jack Kid), Ray Johnson, and Keith Haring. Pittore painted Haring from life, a fact which Haring, a student at the School of Visual Arts at the time, mentions in his [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/306132/keith-haring-journals-by-keith-haring/9780143105978/ journals].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.nymuseums.com/ej11011t.htm |title=I would have whispered |last=Jegou|first=Eve |date=January 22, 2011 |publisher=Curator’s Choice|access-date=July 18, 2017 }}</ref> Pittore's works have been shown in such places as Italy, Belgium, Tokyo, Chicago, New York (Museum Modern Art, Getty Institute for Art History & The Humanities, New York City Public Library), Los Angeles, Spain, Norway; and now hang in private collections throughout the world.
Due to the devastation caused by the outbreak of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, Pittore left the lower East Side of Manhattan and moved to Maine permanently. In 1987 he founded "The Academy of Carlo Pittore" in Bowdoinham, Maine.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mainemasters.com/inproduction.html |title=Maine Masters |date=Jan 1, 2013 |publisher=Union of Maine Visual Artists |access-date=July 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425232957/http://mainemasters.com/inproduction.html |archive-date=April 25, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Here he invited artists from all over to come and share their knowledge and talents in an academic forum; whilst he himself hosted drawing classes, painted and drew the artists (and models) and also cooked for them.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://marthamillerart.blogspot.com/2008/03/academy-of-carlo-pittore.html |title=Martha Miller: Academy of Carlo Pittore |last=Miller|first=Martha |date=March 12, 2008 |publisher=marthamillerart |access-date=July 20, 2017 |quote=After our sessions, Carlo would often whip us up a batch of his signature pasta made with lethal amounts of garlic.}}</ref>
Pittore founded the “Union of Maine Visual Artists”<ref name=COLLEGE/> in 1975. The UMVA passed into state law the “Maine Percent for Art Program” and the “Artist’s Estate Tax Law”.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.umvaonline.org/index.php?page=about |title=Union of Maine Visual Artists |date=September 30, 2016 |publisher=UMVA |access-date=July 18, 2017 }}</ref><ref name=PRESS>{{cite web |url=http://www.pressherald.com/2010/05/09/feast-your-eyes-on-carlo-pittores-brilliant-strokes_2010-05-09/ |title=Feast your eyes on Carlo Pittore's brilliant strokes |last=Kany|first=Daniel |date=May 9, 2010 |publisher=Portland Press Herald |access-date=July 19, 2017 }}</ref> From 1978 to 1980, he was a council member for the "Comprehensive Employment Training Act Artists Project" in New York City.
Just before his death in 2005, the Maine College of Art awarded Pittore an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://meca.edu/uploads/visual_edit/commencement-program-2014-web.pdf |title=MECA: Commencement Exercises |date=May 10, 2014 |publisher=Maine College of Art |access-date=July 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140825083654/http://www.meca.edu/uploads/visual_edit/commencement-program-2014-web.pdf |archive-date=August 25, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=charles-j-stanley&pid=14588628 |title=Charles J. Stanley |date=July 18, 2017 |work=The New York Times |access-date=July 18, 2017 }}</ref><ref name="COLLEGE">{{cite web|url=http://www.theUMVA.org|title=Union of Maine Visual Artists|publisher=Maine College of Art|access-date=July 19, 2017}}</ref> The "Carlo Pittore Foundation for the Figurative Arts" was founded in 2006.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.creativeground.org/profile/carlo-pittore-foundation-figurative-arts |title=Carlo Pittore Foundation for the Figurative Arts |last=Boss |first=Sarah |date=December 31, 2006 |publisher=www.creativeground.org |access-date=July 19, 2017 |archive-date=February 17, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250217152236/https://www.creativeground.org/profile/carlo-pittore-foundation-figurative-arts |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Style== Pittore painted in the figurative and portraiture style; focusing mainly on the nude form of study. On account of this, critics and objectors occasionally viewed his work as "erotic" rather than objective art. Throughout his life, Pittore was extremely vocal toward such critics and what he perceived to be "ignorance" toward his art or art in general. He did not shy away from either voicing his opinion in letters to the editor or removing his exhibits from art galleries or public showings.<ref name=BOLLARD/><ref>{{cite book |last=Held Jr. |first=John |date=April 11, 2015 |title=Small Scale Subversion: Mail Art & Artistamps |location=USA |publisher=Lulu |page=147 |isbn=978-1329058057 }}</ref><ref name=BDN/>
The colors red and green (symbols of the Italian flag) were two essential components in Pittore's work that defined his belief and understanding of complementary palette application. The contrast of these two color schemes arise time and again throughout his works; as can be seen in "Portrait of Blair Tily" (1987),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://newengland.com/today/travel/maine/pittore/ |title=The Afterlife of Art |last=Allen Beem |first=Edgar |date=May 7, 2009 |publisher=New England Today |access-date=July 20, 2017 }}</ref> "Opera - Self Portrait" (1981),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pressherald.com/2010/05/09/feast-your-eyes-on-carlo-pittores-brilliant-strokes_2010-05-09/ |title=Feast your eyes on Carlo Pittore's brilliant strokes |last=Kany |first=Daniel |date=May 9, 2010 |publisher=Portland Press Herald |access-date=July 20, 2017 }}</ref> "La Buffonera" (1983), and "Portrait of a Skeptic" (1996).<ref name=BDN>{{cite web |url=https://bangordailynews.com/2011/10/16/living/university-of-maine-museum-of-art-fall-exhibits-a-triple-threat/?ref=relatedBox |title=University of Maine Museum of Art fall exhibits a triple threat |last=Sarnacki |first=Aislinn |date=July 20, 2017 |access-date=July 20, 2017 |quote=He was very black and white. There is no in between ... He was outspoken and opinionated}}</ref> Pittore's "Lincoln Portrait Series" was the only oil-on-canvas medium in which he worked without color. For this, he painted entirely in black and white due to the fact that the portraits were modeled after 19th-century photographs of Abraham Lincoln.{{Citation needed|date=July 2017}}
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== *[https://www.iammanifest.org International Artists Manifest] *[https://newengland.com/today/travel/maine/pittore/ New England Today] *[https://newenglandfilm.com/festival_film/2016/the-raw-essence-of-carlo-pittore New England Film] *[http://www.panmodern.com/carlopittoreEXCERPTS.html Pan Modern: The World Speaks of Carlo Pittore] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJWjX9PMAvw Carlo Pittore at the New York Book Fair]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pittore, Carlo}} Category:1943 births Category:2005 deaths Carlo Pittore Carlo Pittore Carlo Pittore Category:American male artists Category:People from Port Washington, New York Category:School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni Category:20th-century American male artists