ENRICO VITTORIO PINARDI

1934 - 2021

PINARDI, Enrico Vittorio AKA "Henry", AKA "Rico" Lifelong Artist, Mentor, Friend Enrico Vittorio Pinardi, 86 – known to family and friends simply as Henry – of Hyde Park, Massachusetts passed away on Saturday, January 30, 2021 from complications due to Covid-19. He is survived by his beloved wife, Gayle White, and the family she brought him, including son Lucas Antunes, daughter Michaela Antunes and her husband John Taraborelli, and grandchildren James and Cecilia Conway; as well as numerous cousins in the U.S. and Europe. He was married to the late Brenda Atwood Pinardi from 1966 until her passing in 2010. A prolific artist of note and longtime art instructor, Henry leaves behind a creative legacy that will make his presence known far beyond his years on earth. Though he had no biological children, he is survived by a multi-generational chosen family of friends and artists to whom he served as teacher, mentor and father figure. The members of this close-knit group, many of whom he taught during his nearly 30 years as an art professor at Rhode Island College, proudly and affectionately refer to themselves as "Henry's Kids." Their ranks include several noteworthy local artists and gallery owners. Their reverence for him and the closeness of their relationships are such that nearly all of them can offer some imitation of his mannerisms, such as his distinctly yankee pronunciation of words like "cahn't" or his signature classroom call to order of "Okay, kids." To all who knew him, Henry was a larger than life figure, a veritable force of nature. In addition to being an accomplished artist and educator, he was a generous friend, sage advisor, tireless cheerleader and natural born raconteur. Those close to him noted that the character of "The Most Interesting Man in the World," featured in a long-running series of ads for Dos Equis beer, must have been inspired by Henry. In casual conversation, he was prone to offhanded anecdotes and asides that revealed incredible facets of his life – that he had turned down a recording contract with Capitol Records in the early 1960s to focus on art, or owned a hotel on Martha's Vineyard for more than 25 years, or sang onstage at protest rallies with Paul Robeson and Peter, Paul and Mary – that often seemed too far-fetched to be true. However, his audiences quickly learned never to doubt his claims because they would invariably later meet someone who corroborated Henry's story. Born February 11, 1934 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Henry was the only child of Libero S. Pinardi and Marcella Cecchini Pinardi. He was born into a family of artists and artisans: his mother ran her own design business, his grandfathers on both sides were sculptors, and his paternal stepgrandfather, famed sculptor Ernesto G. Pellegrini, delivered Henry his first artistic critique at the tender age of four, when the child created a squirrel out of Plasticine. Henry made his first trip to the family home in Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella, Italy in 1946, after his parents separated. His ancestral homeland remained an important presence in both his personal life and art for all the years that followed. Among his many maternal family members in Italy, the most important to Henry's development proved to be his uncle, the noted Verona architect Libero Cecchini, with whom he forged a lifelong bond. A full-time apprenticeship under his stepgrandfather Pellegrini at the sculptor's Cambridge studio in 1951 marked the start of Henry learning his trade. He quickly displayed a natural aptitude for sculpture. Eight years later, at 25, Henry decided to pursue the fine arts in earnest and enrolled as a freshman at the prestigious Massachusetts College of Art, where he discovered that his natural creative aptitude extended equally to drawing and painting. During this time, he also met his future wife Brenda Atwood, a talented painter in her own right. He later earned his MFA in Sculpture from the world-renowned Rhode Island School of Design and studied for three years at the Boston School of Architecture. A long and distinguished career in both studio art and art education followed. In 1967, Henry joined the art department faculty at Rhode Island College. From then until his retirement in 1995, he cultivated a creative universe unto himself, producing much of his best work and emerging as the gravitational center around which a galaxy of young Rhode Island artists orbited. His impact was incalculable, nurturing a sense of artistic community that was previously absent among the largely working class students – many of whom, like Henry, were the first in their family to attend college – at a small, mostly commuter school. His work there extended far beyond his courses: he founded the school's Art Club, established an annual art department auction to fund student trips to galleries and museums in New York which continues to this day, and even coached the department's softball team to multiple intramural championships. (Despite his own physical handicaps sustained during a bout with polio when he was three years old, he was an avid sports lover and had previously coached the MassArt basketball team to a division championship.) His body of work will outlive him, with pieces belonging to both private and public collections ranging from Boston to New York to Verona, Italy and longtime representation by Boston's Pucker Gallery. He produced countless paintings and sculptures over the course of more than a dozen solo exhibitions throughout his career, establishing himself, in the words of writer and critic Paul T. Ngano, as the "quintessential Italian artist of the twentieth century." Enrico "Henry" Pinardi's absence will loom large in the hearts and lives of all who knew him and his artistic influence will continue to spread as subsequent generations encounter his work. In accordance with his wishes, Henry is to be cremated and there will be no formal service; however, a memorial exhibition will be held at Pucker Gallery, Boston at a future time. Arrangements entrusted to the J. F. Skeffington Funeral Home and Cremations. For online condolences kindly visit Skeffingtonfuneralhome.com/. Those who wish to pay tribute to the immeasurable expanse of his life and legacy are encouraged to do something that would have made Henry smile: spend some time appreciating a piece of art, dote on a cat, eat at Bertucci's and tip generously. For those who insist on a more formal recognition of his passing, in lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in his name to Gallery Night Providence.

View the online memorial for Enrico Vittorio PINARDI