(Rome 1927–2005 Perugia)
Plans, 1970, signed and dated Piero Dorazio 1970 on the reverse, oil on canvas, 200 x 30 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection oft the artist
Collezione Romero, Rome –
thence by descent to the present owner

Literature:
M. V. Orlandini, J. Lasaigne, G. Crisafi, Dorazio. Catalogo Generale 1, Venedig 1977, a cura di Marisa Volpi Orlandini, Jaques Lassaigne e Giorgio Crisafi, Alfieri, Venezia 1977 (con testo di Marisa Volpi Orlandini), no. 1130 with ill.

“In the Romero Gallery one can find the most beautiful prints by the best Italian artists (…) A gallery (..) rather secret, where the collector can make the most interesting of discoveries.
And while they are thumbing through the rich portfolios, upstairs there is always someone engraving a plate (..) or Renzo (Romero) printing or hanging a damp sheet of paper to dry.
Work is always in progress.“

Piero Dorazio 1978

In 1960, Renzo Romero and his wife Flavia Teso open their first print/gallery/lab location: ‘Litografica Romero’ [Romero Lithography]. Their interests focus primarily on abstract art, which - after its first emergence in Milan, finds fertile ground in Rome, too - especially thanks to the mediation of Leonardo Sinisgalli and his journal: ‘Civiltà delle Macchine’ [Machine Civilization] (with which Romero himself will collaborate over time).
The technique initially experimented with is black-and-white lithography, carried out on a press by Alberto Caprini first, and then by Franco Cioppi, both of whom were already established lithographers. During this time, collaborators of the Art Atelier include artists such as Aldemir Martins, Emilio Vedova and Paolo Icaro, soon followed by Piero Dorazio, Achille Perilli, Gastone Novelli, Giuseppe Santomaso, Giulio Turcato and Umberto Mastroianni. In late 1961- early 1962, the Romero’s decide to leave lithography behind, and to personally devote themselves to intaglio printing using coloured slides, thereby broadening the possibilities for collaborating on - and executing - work. 
In 1963, the new ‘Grafica Romero’ location opens in a more central area, thus favouring the print’s development and holding exhibits and events which soon turn it into a gathering spot for artists, collectors, critics, poets and writers. World exhibits are also on the rise by this time: Frankfurt, 1967, Tokyo, 1968; Cairo, 1968; Haifa, 1970; Oslo, 1972, etc), as the interest in artist books grows, after its initial flourishing in the 1960s. Many artists from the Art Atelier collaborate with poets and writers, in the creation of volumes of exceptional quality, in which abstract art engages in creative dialogue with the written word. Illustrations are commissioned from painters and sculptors, who render new artistic interpretations of engraving techniques, personally tending to reproductions, thereby resulting in very limited batches of exceptional worth. 

The ‘publications’ start with two anthologies, the first dedicated to Poeti americani [American Poets] (1963), with texts by William Carlos Williams, John Ashbery, Michael Benedikt, Bill Berkson, Joseph Ceravolo, Gregory Corso, Frank O’Hara, Kenneth Koch, James Schuyler, John Wieners, and lithographies by Angelo Savelli; the second to Poeti sovietici [Soviet Poets] (1964), curated by Giancarlo Vigorelli, with translations by Angelo Maria Ripellino, and engravings by Umberto Mastroianni (poets anthologised are: Majakovosky, Pasternak, Achmatova, Cvetaeva, Mandel’stam, Zabolocky, Evtuscenko, Voznescenscky, Achmatulina). Fervent activity carries on uninterrupted, featuring the collaboration of artists and poets of international renown. The collaboration between Giuseppe Ungaretti, Piero Dorazio and Renzo Romero, is worthy of special mention, leading to the publication of several folders and volumes.
“Grafica Romero” ceased all activity in 1986. Many of the print’s works were donated in 1977 to the ‘Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna di Roma’ [Rome’s National Gallery of Modern Art], in 1984 to the ‘Museo Civico d’Arte Contemporanea di Gibellina’ [Ghibellina’s Civil Museum of Contemporary Art and to the ‘Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica di Roma’ [Rome’s National Graphics Institute].