Above: Peter Petruccelli in his studio with his painting Il Mondo.
Since then, the Beaconsfield Upper resident has seen success as a potter, sculptor, painter and art teacher in Australia.
When talking to Peter it is obvious that his passion lies with painting, which he uses to reflect his thoughts on the environment and the modern world.
The Italian-born artist first moved to Australia shortly after his first exhibition in Italy, possible only thanks to a paintbox his brother sent him from Australia. The exhibition earned him 300,000 lira and 296,000 lira was spent on his fare to the land down-under in 1956, when he was 20-years-old.
“When I had my first exhibition in Italy I had never been to school and when I came here (to Australia) I wanted to see the art and so I took someone who could speak English and went to the National Gallery Art School,” he said.
Peter showed a painting to ‘the guy in charge’ who offered him a scholarship.
After three months painting statues, he was moved upstairs to do life drawing.
“I went to the National Gallery and I was treated like somebody and I got a scholarship and I was not like the people (other migrants) who came here and worked on the farms,” he said.
“I was an Italian in the art field and everyone had great respect for me.”
But it was still not an easy time for Peter as he still had to work to pay his way, mostly painting during the day and doing night shift at a can factory in Port Melbourne, as well as taking classes to learn English.
His passion for art then led Peter to study at the Central School in London and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, where he tried his hand at pottery – and met his wife Mary.
“I thought when I come back to Australia, I’ll be able to do something else if I can’t live on being an artist – I could be a potter and if I couldn’t be a potter I’d be a sculptor,” he said.
Mary and Peter started teaching art at local schools, while Peter did his own painting and sculptures on the side.
He is still well known for his pottery and sculpture although he no longer sculpts and his heart rests with the paintbrush.
“Sooner or later I knew I was going to go back to painting but a lot of people still recognise me as a sculptor and potter.”
The couple purchased their Beaconsfield Upper property in the 1970s and quickly built a large studio.
It was almost completely destroyed in the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983, while the family was in Sydney for the opening of one of Peter’s exhibitions.
“We got back to the hotel and we turned on the TV and saw the equestrian centre nearby was burned and I thought, ‘that’s too close’,” Peter said.
“I called my brother and he said he had heard our whole house was gone so we left at 11 in the morning and when we got back, it was still burning.
“But even after the bushfire, (Mary and their two children), I said do you want to stay here or sell and go? They all said (Mary and their two children) we want to stay here.”
“Fifty years ago I wouldn’t be able to be a painter here unless I was a little landscape artist because I wouldn’t know what was going on around the world,” he said.
“That was when you had London painters, Berlin painters, American painters – because they were painting what they were living but now you know what is going on all over the world.
“This is the world we’re in now. You can live anywhere in the world and paint what is happening anywhere in the world.”
His coming exhibition, opening Friday at Steps Gallery in Carlton, includes many pieces with an environmental message, taking inspiration from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the growing wind turbine industry and climate change debate, as well as pieces commenting on modern society and historical events.
His paintings are littered with acknowledgment of his Italian roots – with work from artists like Michelangelo, Ingres and Caravaggio incorporated into his painting.
“I never talk directly in my paintings because I’m from the ‘old school’,” Peter said.
“What you want to say, you’ve got to express in your painting. If you want to read, write a book but painting should be appreciated – enjoy the painting first and then ask what is the artist trying to say?”
“Everyone should understand that painting differently means I am happy, because if that painting said the same thing to 20 people then I have failed as a painter.”
The exhibition opens on Friday 21 October, at Steps Gallery, 62 Lygon Street, Carlton.
It will be on display until 2 November.
