Simona Weller

Simona Weller was born in Rome in 1940 and lives and works between Rome and the medieval village of Calcata (VT). Graduated from the Academy of Rome after a long study endeavor in the East (from Bangkok to Cairo), in 1973 she attracted the attention of critics at the 10th Rome Quadrennial with large abstract canvases where painting merged with letters and writing. During the 1970s she showed at the Venice Biennale and San Paolo Biennale in Brazil, at the FIAC at the Grand Palais in Paris, at the International Kunstlerinnen in Berlin. Weller, a multifaceted artist, is considered one of the most interesting practioners of her generation, also due to her multidisciplinary activity as a painter (and later also ceramist), which she positioned as research into the histories and reconstructions of the presence of women in art: in 1976 she published a book investigating the Italian artists of the twentieth century, Il Complesso di Michelangelo, and an essay on female creativity, Il Privato come Politica. In the 1980s and 1990s, while her artistic affirmation grew internationally (she was present in numerous group exhibitions in Europe and China), Weller also intensified her non-fiction and literary production. She writes articles, studies, short stories: from 1980 to '93 she edited an art column in the monthly "Noi Donne", in 1988 a monographic issue of the magazine Minerva on women in art from the Middle Ages to the present day, in 1994 the long story Il Pantano del Diavolo. In 1998 the first fictionalized biography of a great artist was released: Portrait of Angelica, dedicated to the Swiss painter Angelica Kauffmann (Avagliano Editore, translated in Austria and Germany). In 2000 and 2002 followed, again published by Avagliano, “Una Rosa nel cuore” and “Suzanne”, both dedicated to the adventurous life of Suzanne Valadon. The story of Benedetta Cappa, told in Marinetti Amore Mio (Marlin Editore, published November 30th), completes the trilogy.