Achille Pace

Achille Pace, born in Termoli in 1923 and deceased in Rome in 2021, was a leading figure in Italian abstract and informal art of the second half of the 20th century. He moved to Rome in 1935 and began painting in the 1940s, initially focusing on landscapes with expressionist influences. A trip to Switzerland in the 1950s exposed him to German Expressionism and the work of Paul Klee, which deeply influenced his artistic development. Later, his encounter with American Action Painting, particularly Jackson Pollock, led him to a brief but significant informal phase, during which he experimented with textile materials such as cotton thread, integrating them into his paintings to define the perceptual space of his works.
In 1962, together with artists such as Biggi, Carrino, Frascà, and Uncini, he founded Gruppo Uno, a collective aimed at renewing Italian artistic language through abstract research and the use of innovative materials. The group, active until 1964, became a reference point for the Roman avant-garde of the 1960s. Achille Pace participated in several editions of the Venice Biennale and the Rome Quadriennale, as well as in major exhibitions on 20th-century Italian art both in Italy and abroad.
Achille Pace’s poetics are characterized by attention to lightness, the imperceptible, and the search for a balance between sign, color, and material. As early as 1957, he introduced thread as a structural element in his works, anticipating trends that would emerge in later years. In 1960, he wrote a fundamental text on his poetics, published in 1975 on the occasion of a solo exhibition in Milan, with critical contributions by Giulio Carlo Argan and Gianni Montana.
Beyond his artistic activity, Achille Pace was a cultural promoter: he founded the Premio Termoli, which became an important international forum for discussion on the state of contemporary art. Achille Pace remains a central figure for understanding the evolution of abstraction and informal art in Italy in the postwar period.