Alfredo
Antognini was born in Buenos Aires,
where his father was a banker. Both he and his wife-to-be were
studying philosophy at the University of Buenos Aires, and he was
only one year shy of becoming a professor, when she saw a sketch
he'd done of her and recognized his talent. She gave him a box
of paints and brushes for his birthday, and with her encouragement
(and without the knowledge of his father) he applied and was admitted
to the School of Fine Arts. He spent seven years there, receiving
an M.A. in drawing in 1971 and an M.A. in painting in 1974. In
1971 he also managed to finish his doctorate in philosophy. The
artists he most admired in those days (and still today) were Matisse,
Picasso, Vuillard, Morandi, Cezanne, Degas, and Delacroix, and
also an Argentine painter named Butler (pronounced Bootler in Argentinian
Spanish), who was then in his 70s and living in Buenos Aires. Antognini
wanted to take lessons from Butler but the old man said he was
no longer taking students. However, he did agree to look at Antognini's
work and encouraged him to go on painting...
