Alberto Morrocco

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Alberto Morrocco
Born(1917-12-14)14 December 1917
Aberdeen, Scotland
Died10 March 1998(1998-03-10) (aged 80)
Dundee, Scotland
EducationGray's School of Art
Known forPainting
AwardsGuthrie Award, 1943

Alberto Morrocco

FRSE RSW RP RGI LLD (14 December 1917 – 10 March 1998) was a Scottish artist and teacher. He is famous for his works featuring landscapes of Scotland and abroad, still-life, figure painting and interiors, but perhaps his best known works are his beach scenes and views of Venice.[1]

Early life

Morrocco was born in Aberdeen in 1917, the son of Italian immigrants, Domenic Antonio Marrocco and Celesta Crolla. His father had an ice cream shop in the city and the signwriter accidentally wrote the name as Morrocco and the name then stuck.[1]

Education

He studied at Gray's School of Art under Robert Sivell between 1932 and 1938, and in France, Italy and Switzerland.[2] He is famous for his landscape paintings of Scotland and abroad, still life, figure painting and interiors, but perhaps his best known works are his beach scenes and views of Venice.[3]

Inspirations

The avant-garde of the twenties and thirties, in particular

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, which is now part of the University of Dundee.[4][3] He produced murals for St. Columba's Church in Glenrothes and for Royal Dundee Liff Hospital in Dundee.[5]

Morrocco was prodigiously productive. He had a spectacular retirement, producing some of his most vigorous work in the period from 1982 to his death. Even late in his life and seriously ill, he would commit himself to exhibitions of thirty or forty new works in a year.

Morrocco and his wife Vera Mercer had three children, Leon, Laurie and Annalisa. Leon followed in his fathers footsteps and became an established artist in his own right. Laurie is a conservator of early panel paintings and Annalisa a designer and illustrator.[6]

Alberto died at his home, Binrock House in Dundee, on 10 March 1998.

Principal works

Awards and recognitions

The University of Dundee awarded Morrocco an

Queen Mother as Chancellor. He was awarded the San Vita Romano Prize and both the Guthrie Award and the Carnegie Award of the Royal Scottish Academy
, where he was elected Fellow in 1962.

In addition to the degree from Dundee University, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the

OBE
in 1993.

Morrocco was a member of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (RGI) and the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW).[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Duncan Macmillan (14 March 1998). "Obituary:Alberto Morrocco". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 June 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  2. ^
    ISBN 1-85149-106-6
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 1-84195-150-1
    .
  4. ^ "Artist:Alberto Morrocco". Open Eye Gallery. 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  5. ISBN 0-95326-095-X
    .
  6. ^ Tim Cornwell (6 May 2012). "Hammer time for Alberto Morrocco's art". The Scotsman. Retrieved 28 December 2015.

External links

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