2D art

Elena Guaccero began painting when she was still at university in Rome. The architect Ludovico Quaroni and the painters Orfeo Tamburi and Massimo Campigli, her friends at the time, must have contributed to her creative awakening. The subjects she chose ranged from landscapes to portraits and abstract forms, and were painted in oils, tempera and watercolours.

Her artistic activity would recommence in 1970 after moving to Venice, after years of dedicating herself firstly to architecture and then to her family. In Venice, Elena was able to devote time and energy to her artistic work, focusing on one of several diverse subjects at any one time and using a range of completely different techniques.

After a period of painting, she began creating collages. Her elder daughter, Anna Maria, remembers her mother as “a shy and reserved person who loved to spend whole days in her studio working on her creatures… bringing her inner world to life: her thoughts, fantasies and her way of breaking the rules”. Guaccero’s collages tell stories related to moments she considered the most important in the history of humanity, imaginatively interpreted with pieces of coloured paper, glue and scissors.

During these years, Guaccero also created a system to help children learn the alphabet that she entitled Ghiribizzo, in which each letter of the alphabet assumed a memorable character that enacted surreal, humorous and theatrical scenes.