Leo Rossi was the art teacher at the scientific high school “G. Galilei” of Siena. He was a mild and shy man. What he appreciated in the young student was his artistic creativity. The professor had a great liking for this young man in whom he saw a future artist. He invited him to participate in a national high school contest and his work was exhibited – the only one among Siena’s high school students – at Palazzo Venezia along with the paintings from other high schools of the country.
Although the school curriculum required the teaching of technical and architectural drawing, Prof. Rossi had instead turned the high school classroom into a painting studio. He used to spend his free time in his atelier, a luminous studio with large windows overlooking Fontebranda and San Domenico. The young Santini often went to visit him there.
In those circumstances the awareness of Enzo’s destiny as an artist was born. It has been since then that he committed himself to art. Not until then. “I do not come from an artistic family.” – he states – “My father was a worker who spent all his life opposing fascism, sacrificing himself and his family, and was persecuted and tortured in the infamous Casermetta (barracks) as recalled by a memorial plaque on the entrance wall.”
A memory that is fading, but that Enzo, then a thirteen-year-old boy, lives again with intense participation, recalling many other episodes of the Resistance.
The year 1968 marks for Enzo Santini the beginning of a Proustian search of lost time. In that year he produced the paintings that were later exhibited at De Mena Gallery in New York. It was his first personal exhibition. Since then, that extraordinary city became his most coveted goal. His great friendship with Prof. Guideri, a pharmacologist at the New York University, gold medal of the City of Siena, allowed him to often visit New York and work in the atelier of his best friend in his large villa in Queens. His journey across the world began that year.
He later debuted in graphic art, attending engraving courses at the Accademia d'Arte in Florence, the starting point of an innovative path of the classical method, which today allows him a radical simplification of the traditional technique, which he defines a middle ground between art graphic and painting.
Using this new technique, he made a large number of portraits, including those of Goethe, Obama and Saint Catherine of Siena. The portrait of the great German genius is in the branch of the Goethe-Institut in Rome, where he conceived his Faust first. Obama’s portrait was conceived in New York, where the artist saw the president on the cover of Time magazine.
Some portraits of Saint Catherine are kept in Rome in the premises of the International Centre for Catherinian Studies (CISC). Copies of this work have been donated by Santini to a number of cultural and religious personalities in Rome who came to the Capitoline Hill for a ceremony organized by the Centre.
These twenty years were full of initiatives and significant experiences that enriched Santini’s technical knowledge, widening his perspectives and leading him to pursue further goals. His journeys across the world marked a large part of his artistic life.
In Siena he met the master lithographer Liubomir Yordanov, chief scenographer on Bulgarian TV, a student at the School of Italian language and culture for foreigners. Their acquaintance soon turned into a close, lasting friendship, which deepened its roots when the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture invited Enzo Santini to learn about graphic techniques at Yordanov’s studio, at the lithographic base of Sofia and at Samokov’s base directed by lithographer Gheno Ghenov. At the end of that long stay he participated in the 11th International Graphic Biennial in Varna, where he got the second prize with the work “The Gladiators”, now exhibited at the Museum of Prints in Varna.
A difficult conference on art at Sofia University – when the communist regime was still in power -, a diploma in graphic arts and a lithographic press given to him by the Sofia printers concluded Enzo Santini’s Bulgarian experience in which he shared with his fellow printers a long, hard and exhilarating working period.
One year later, Yordanov exhibited his lithographic works in the Palazzo Patrizi hall in Siena. The exhibition was organized by the Municipality of Siena and presented by mayor Roberto Barzanti. On that occasion Santini introduced him to Edmond Volponi, French writer and journalist, Knight of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic and gold medal of the Municipality of Siena for his work to promote the twinning between the cities of Siena and Avignon.
Through that friendship, Yordanov and Santini were invited to the Salon informatique et communication in Avignon for a training course in lithography with the artists of Provence. A base for European lithography was established there: the Atelier lithographique de l'Europe in the Chartreuse of Villeneuve-les-Avignon. The complex was visited by the French Minister for European Affairs Madame Goigou, accompanied by her Spanish and British colleagues. Enzo Santini participated in the European painting and sculpture contest held at the Palais des Papes where he won the first prize and the golden keys of the city of Avignon.
Santini and Yordanov continued their exhibitions in Sicily at La Meridiana Gallery, at the University of Messina and at the Rotary Club of Milazzo, where Rotary members attended a practical printing test. Their Sicilian adventure ended in the Auditorium of the University where the two artists held a lithography lesson for teachers and students.
Yordanov’s return to Sofia coincided with Santini’s participation at the 5th Engraving Triennial in Milan, the most important Italian graphic art exhibition. Before the Sicilian experience, Santini had organized a lithography booth at the Bologna Art Fair, calling the printers Gheno Ghenov, Valentin Metodiev Panov and Georgi Velinov Minev from Samokov, who then remained in his atelier to develop a programme that ended in the Becattini printing house in Florence.
With Yordanov still in Italy, Santini exhibited his works at the Bulgarian Academy of Arts and Culture in Rome. The event drew a large attendance from the Bulgarian community in Italy, including famous opera singer Boris Christoff.
The next step of their artistic association was in Buonconvento where the municipality organized a lithography internship with the students of the Art Institute of Siena.
These years of intense graphic experiences intersect seamlessly with Santini’s pictorial creation, with new artistic solutions also in that field. As was the case with graphic art, his painting technique also underwent a radical change. Thus a painting style was born, one where colours were applied with the fingers. Encaustic painting was contemporary with this innovation. With this technique, dating back to ancient Egypt, Santini created a series of twelve large paintings dedicated to Saint Catherine of Siena. They became part of the second volume on the iconography of the Sienese saint in preparation for the International Centre for Catherinian Studies in Rome. Using the encaustic technique he painted his work “Siena” donated to Nobel Prize winner Andrei Sakharov by the Rector of the University of Siena Prof. Berlinguer. Later Santini met the Russian scientist and his wife Yelena Bonner in Moscow.
Here I would like to emphasize the close interdependence among the various work experiences that have constantly enriched Santini’s creativity. This is the case, for example, of the painting of the Catherinian “Contemplation of the Cross”, where the female figure was inspired in Paris by a nude performed at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière - now Académie Charpentier - famous art school founded in 1904 in contrast with the traditional École des Beaux-Arts. The white female figure of “The Temptation of the Flesh” was developed, instead, from a drawing made at the nude figure drawing course of the Florence Academy of Art directed by Prof. Viggiano, who presented his St. Catherine’s cycle to the Florentine Galleria del Paiolo, chaired by him.
The affair of the Palio drape, commissioned by the municipality of Siena, also began in Paris where Santini made an exhibition at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants. He asked a French lady, who participated with two beautiful silk works, some details as he was thinking of using that technique for the drape. The lady’s exhaustive explanation, however, did not succeed. So once again he followed the attitude to search for new techniques that has always accompanied Santini in his artistic career.
The musical-themed works were born from friendships with extraordinary men, such as maestro Octav Calleya, director of the Conservatory and the Symphonic Orchestra of Malaga, who had attended conducting courses at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana taught by maestro Ferrara. In that year, Enzo Santini attended the Chigiana summer courses as auditor. Later they met again in Malaga and in Bucharest, where Calleya conducted a concert at the State Opera, which he dedicated it to his friend Enzo. Santini defines that moment “an unforgettable emotion”. Nikolai Badinski, the other musician friend, was living in Berlin. They met in Siena, where Badinski attended the composition courses at the Chigiana Academy. Their friendship strengthened over time. They met again in Berlin and walked together under the Brandenburg Gate after the fall of the Wall. An unrecognizable city when Santini thought of the same Berlin that he visited a long time before during the Soviet occupation. One year later Santini went to Wetzlar, where he had been invited as the author of the official poster of the Wetzlarer Festspiele. Santini is very familiar with Wetzlar, a twin city of Siena, as he made many exhibitions there. He still remembers the emotion of meeting Badinski at the Goethe-lnstitut in Rome where the composer dedicated a work to him.
After a stay in Rome, the two artists moved to Cortona, the Tuscan town where the German musician Wolfgang Molkow had settled after leaving “unliveable” Berlin to retire to a small farm overlooking an ancient Franciscan monastery. In the absolute silence of that place, Wolfgang composed his music, then broadcasted by a TV station in Berlin. This is the brief story of Santini’s music themed paintings inspired by his friend composer maestro Badinski.
Meanwhile the painter continued to work on Saint Catherine until 1994, when his first exhibition of the cycle was held at the Warsaw Archdiocese Museum directed by Prof. Przekazinski, curated by the local Italian Cultural Institute. At the vernissage, Santini and Mons. Przekazinski entertained the public with a long illustration of the life of St. Catherine and of the history of Siena and its Contrade. Prior to Santini’s journey to Poland, the cycle was visited by Mons. Ismaele Castellano and Prof. Alessandro Falassi, to whom he was bound by a profound friendship.
The following year, St. Catherine’s cycle was exhibited in Siena in the hall of the School of Italian Language and Culture for Foreigners. Shortly thereafter, the works were sent to Grenoble, where the Italian Institute of Culture and the Consulate-General of Italy organized an exhibition in the Consulate Hall.
Given the success of the exhibitions, the works on display and a summary of the opinions expressed by various Sienese cultural, religious and political figures were gathered in a catalogue printed in four languages and presented at the Accademia dei Rozzi by Prof. Alessandro Falassi, professor of cultural anthropology at Siena and Los Angeles universities and by Prof. Sergio Micheli, professor of film history at the University of Siena. Mons. Mario Ismaele Castellano also attended the presentation. The publication accompanied St. Catherine’s cycle in Florence in the Galleria del Paiolo in Florence, a famous Florentine institution founded in 1476, whose prestige comes from one of its founders, Andrea del Sarto and was chaired by Vittorio Cecchi Gori. The works were presented by the artistic director Prof. Domenico Viggiano, Dean of the Florentine Academy of Fine Arts. During the exhibition the catalogue was recorded in the Marucelliana Library, while Radio San Marco, a Catholic radio station, broadcasted a report on the exhibition.
In July of the same year, St. Catherine’s cycle was off for a new destination in France, Avignon, the city of Popes, the city maestro Santini loves most along with New York, and where he has made numerous exhibitions. One of his paintings can be seen at the Calvet Museum of Modern Art.
The time had come for the great adventure on the other side of the Ocean. The exhibition of St. Catherine’s cycle opened in Toronto on October 9, 1996. Organized by the Consul-General of Italy Dr Leonardo Sampoli in cooperation with the Columbus Center, an Italian-Canadian institution directed by Dr Alberto di Giovanni. Many consular authorities attended the opening ceremony and the mayor of Toronto, Dr Alan Tonks, solemnly thanked the artist. A programme of initiatives promoted by the Consulate-General with the collaboration of the University unfolded during the following days. Groups of students and teachers visited the magnificent hemicycle of the Carrier Art Gallery and opened debates on Santini’s art, on the life of the Sienese Saint and on the Contrade. His lectio magistralis concluded the exhibition.
Meanwhile, the Consulate-General had reproduced the 11th chapter of the "History of the Republic of Siena" by Langton Douglas, a chapter specifically dedicated to Saint Catherine. The publication, printed in 5,000 copies, was distributed everywhere in Toronto. A curious episode occurred when the mayor of the town of Saint Catharine, located near Niagara Falls, saw Santini on TV explain the exhibition of St. Catherine’s cycle and asked the Consul to transfer the cycle to his city. In the meantime the St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School organized a school meeting where Santini illustrated to teachers and students the life of the Saint and her hometown, Siena. At the University of Toronto, which includes a large number of Italians among teachers from every part of the world, Prof. Massimo Ciavolella, Director of the Department of Italian Studies and other Italian teachers, collaborated in the exhibition.
There was hardly enough time to dismantle the exhibition as Santini flew to San Luis Obispo, California. This city was named after the Jesuit father who founded the Catholic mission. Located near the ocean, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, it would be almost forgotten in the States if it wasn’t for Cal Poly State University – a university campus of 17,000 students from all over California – which has made this town famous throughout the United States. The exhibition of St. Catherine’s cycle in San Luis Obispo was presented by Santini, Prof. Becker, president of the University and the director of McPhee Union Galerie Prof. Jeanne La Barbera and broadcasted live on television. Special mention should be made of the visit of Prof. Hernan Castellano, professor of Italian language and literature. The exhibition became a study subject for the students of his course. An original report on the exhibition appeared on the “Mustang Daily”, newspaper of the University. In the following days, Santini received a visit from Jesuit Father J. David Corrigan along with the parishioners of his Old Mission. The artist visited the Italian Institute of Culture of Los Angeles directed by Prof. Coniglio, then went to Santa Barbara, San Simeon, Hearst Castle. He had a particularly interesting meeting with Prof. Irma Cavat in her Santa Barbara studio. Mrs Cavat, a modern art professor at Santa Barbara University and a famous painter, had spent eight years at the American Academy on top of the Gianicolo, Rome’s highest hill.
The exhibition in San Francisco was part of a broad programme of events organized by the Catholic Church to celebrate the centenary of the Salesian Fathers’ coming to California: the Salesian Centennial. The programme included impressive events from January 20 to March 11, 1997, attended by Cardinal Pio Laghi.
The Italian Institute of Culture and the Italian Consulate-General organized two vernissages at the Institute. The Bowles-Sorokko Galeries, also based in New York, collaborated in the preparation of the exhibition. At the vernissage of February 6, there were opening addresses by the mayor of Siena Dr Piccini, Hon. Roberto Barzanti, the President of the Tuscany Region Dr Vannino Chiti, the President of the EPT Mrs Carla Caselli, Prof. Alessandro Falassi, the Consul General of Italy Dr Leonardo Sampoli and Mons. Mario Ismaele Castellano. The following weeks were full of stimulating encounters, including that with the Italian Consul-General, Dr Giulio Prigioni, a pleasant evening with opera arias and songs performed by Italian singers of “Aida” on stage at the Opera House during those days.
His calendar was packed with events: meetings with the directors of the Museum of Modern Art in Silicon Valley and Forte Mason on the bay, internships with the students of a private chain of art academies, screenings of Folco Quilici’s “Siena” and a lectio magistralis of the maestro on the Sienese Saint. The director of ANSA in Washington, Jorge Brignole, sent a news feature on the exhibition to Latin American newspapers: "Clarin" from Buenos Aires, "El Mercurio" from Chile, "Excelsior" from Mexico, "El Tiempo" from Bogota, "El Universal" of Caracas," La Republica"of Lima. There was also a solemn celebration of the Salesians in the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Paul where Santini received the highest honour of St. John Bosco: a medal coined by the sculptor Manfrini, who made the bronze doors of the Cathedral of Siena. Santini later received the written blessing of the eighth successor of St. John Bosco, Rector Major Juan Vecchi SDB. One year later he was a guest of the New York Salesian celebrating the Salesian Centennial in New York.
Santini crossed the ocean again to return to the Italian dimension of Pienza. The municipality, in collaboration with the Pie Disposizioni, organized an exhibition of St. Catherine’s cycle. The Prefect of Siena, Prof. Mauro Barni and Prof. Sergio Micheli presented the works of the cycle exhibited in the courtyard of the majestic papal dwelling.
Again in New York, with St. Catherine’s cycle exhibited in the wide nave of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. A letter from S.E. Mons. Bonicelli witnessed the collaboration of the Sienese Curia to the event.
Back to the Sienese land, the municipality of Chiusdino celebrated the Sienese Saint, hosting the cycle in the old church of San Martino. There Prof. Micheli illustrated the historical-artistic profile of the exhibition.
In May 2002, the time came again to resume his pilgrimage to the European Parliament in Brussels, where Catherine, we imagine, would have once again exhorted peoples and nations to peace and tolerance. Mr Enzo Sacconi introduced the exhibition to his fellow members of the Parliament to whom Santini once again illustrated the life of Caterina Benincasa in the Siena of her time.
The next destination of Santini’s tireless journey was southwestern France, where the cycle was exhibited by the municipality of Plaisance-du-Touche at Salon de l’Art. Journalist Robert Le Roncé, known for the solemn celebrations of Joan of Arc in Orléans, was the promoter of the exhibition.
In Siena, the student Alessandra Mancuso submitted a degree thesis at the University on the subject: “The contemporary heritage of the encaustic in Siena: Marco Salerni and Enzo Santini”.
In November 2010, after the three previous exhibitions, Santini brought to Wetzlar, a twin city of Siena, “his” Saint exhibited in the spacious new hall of the Neues Rathaus. The welcome address by the Councillor for the city twinning programme Mr Karlheinz Kräuter was followed by a conversation with the audience at the opening. The next day, Santini met a group of high school students whose questions offered new insights into the “mystery” of St. Catherine. The London exhibition held at the Salon Waldorf Astoria impressed us with the extraordinary participation of the public, which the maestro showed us in a beautiful picture taken at the entrance of the hotel.
Many visitors have approached for the first time the history of Siena, its Contrade, the life of Caterina Benincasa, the religious, political and social issues of that remote time. Santini has lived and lives his religiousness and the pride of being the only Sienese artist who has spread with his art the message of peace of our Patroness of Italy and of Europe in so much of the world. The many questions about Siena and its districts, the great curiosity to learn, the long conversations about the Saint have enriched the meaning of the exhibitions and even helped clarify many doubts to Santini himself.
A world tour accompanied by the extraordinary historic heritage called Santa Caterina da Siena, which allowed him to illustrate the extraordinary life of the Sienese Saint.
Santini strongly expresses the pride of having always worn the handkerchief of the Tower, which made him feel closer to his beloved district. He recalls the great emotion at the screening of the documentary by Folco Quilici and the heartfelt embrace with a lady from Siena who came to the vernissage in San Francisco wearing the handkerchief of the Tartuca.
The pilgrimage of the Catherine cycle never stops. In June 2012 Santini was at the San Vidal Gallery in Venice. The success of the works was documented in a number of newspapers including "La Repubblica". The exhibition at the Museum of the "Casa dei Carraresi" of Treviso deserves special mention, both for the success with the public and for the articles in the "Corriere della Sera" daily newspaper. Prof. Adriano Madaro, who on one of his visits to Siena had already seen and appreciated Santini’s works, introduced the cycle. His contacts with Chinese authorities over a thirty-year period allowed him to organize various exhibitions on China, which led to the desire to plan an exhibition of the Sienese master in that country.
The artist’s unstoppable pilgrimage saw him offering the public in Paris his works exhibited in the prestigious premises of the Senate of the Republic (Orangerie du Sénat).
The last – "temporary," as Santini is quick to point out – stage was in Dubai, where he was awarded the first prize in the international painting contest “Golden Brush” and the invitation to exhibit his works for one year in the United Arab Emirates.
In this period of his work the fourteen stations of the Via Crucis were painted in encaust. At the same time he received the Chinese students who attend courses in Italian language and culture at the University for Foreigners of his hometown.
