Raúl Lozza


Elbio Raúl Lozza was an Argentinian painter, draughtsman, designer, journalist, and theorist who was part of the concrete art movement. He was part of the Asociación Arte Concreto-Invención. He was the founder of the Perceptivist group.

Early life and education

Lozza was born in the town of Alberti in the Buenos Aires Province of Argentina, to parents Rafael Carlos Lozza, a designer, muralist, painter, paper-maker and musician, and Emma Lozza. Lozza's father had emigrated from the Lombardy region of Italy and his mother was the daughter of Italian immigrants. Lozza had two brothers: Rafael Obdulio Lozza and Rembrandt Van Dyck Lozza.
The family faced economic hardship after a tornado destroyed a theatre and other buildings Rafael Lozza had been working on. They continued to face economic hardship as Lozza's mother suffered from deteriorating mental health issues, which led to her being institutionalized in 1920, after which she escaped and disappeared. In 1923, Lozza's father committed suicide. Lozza and his brothers went to live with their maternal aunt, Amalia Righetti, and uncle, where they worked on their farm.
In 1925, Lozza left school. He did farm work during harvest time and worked as muleteer and bricklayer. Lozza began to work as a painter and paper-cutter, setting up a business with his brothers that gave them economic stability.

Career

In 1929, the Lozza brothers moved to Buenos Aires to get further funding to study painting in Italy; however, the 1930 Argentine coup d'état made this impossible. During this time they studied theatre with José González Castillo and in December 1930 put on the play La sombra de la nada at the Teatro Roma de Alberti in collaboration with poet Vicente Barbieri and Juan Ferreyra Basso.
In 1932, after exhibiting paintings in a library in Almafuerte, in Flores and Alberti, as well as other venues, Lozza published an article called "A propósito del centenario de Goethe" in a periodical called La Zona. He also published poems and a play called Crepúsculos.
In 1933, Lozza, a member of the Communist Party at that time, was jailed for a month after protests of the treatment of political prisoners. During this period he became friends with Lino Enea Spilimbergo, Miguel Carlos Victorica, and the González Tuñón brothers: Raúl González Tuñón and Enrique González Tuñón. Lozza continued to be politically active, publishing illustrations and writings in the anti-fascist journal Socorro Rojo and La República.
In 1937, Lozza contracted tuberculosis, but continued to work. At this time, he works as a painter, title broker, lingerie cutter, fabric stamper, and artist in the field of advertising. Lozza eventually starts a lingerie business called Lingerie Femenil. As part of that business he designed lingerie for many famous women, including Delia Garcés.

Personal life

In 1938, Lozza married his first wife, with whom he had a son, Arturo Lozza. After they divorced, in 1947 Lozza began a relationship with the painter Antonia Belizán, who he later married and had a son, Carlos Raúl Lozza.

Death

On January 27, 2008, Lozza died of natural causes, at the age of 96, in the La Paternal, neighborhood of Buenos Aires in Argentina. He is buried at Cementerio de la Chacarita.

Selected exhibitions

Selected group exhibitions

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