Ettore de Conciliis Gallery Born in 1941 in Avellino, Italy, Ettore de Conciliis began drawing landscapes at the age of four. He studied architecture at the University of Naples, and later continued his education at the University of Rome. For the next two decades, he specialized in painting murals, receiving commissions from such cities as Mantua, Modena, Reggio Emilia and Bari. The year 1980 marked a turning point in Ettore’s career. The Regional Government of Sicily commissioned him to build a memorial in honor of peasants massacred by the bandit Salvatore Guiliano near Palermo in the 1940s. In response to this event, Ettore created the first site specific land-art in Italy. In regard to the major influence this had on his art, Ettore says, "This monument was an opportunity to work directly with the earth and the natural landscape without the filter of the canvas." Ettore thus returned to his first passion, landscape painting. The same intensity of feeling and concern for humanity that the artist displayed in his murals found new focus in his landscapes, where he reveals a great appreciation for the land. Human presence is suggested only indirectly; for example, roads cultivated pastures, distant houses and smoke from fires in the fields. "He knows very well that nature’s integrity is threatened," wrote Italian art critic Mario De Micheli, "and that the violation of its resources is practiced in every part of the earth. By painting the beauty of nature, Ettore de Conciliis is inviting others to defend, protect and guard its treasures. His landscapes are not generic. They always refer to a place that he has seen, and they are painted with particular attention to detail. He shows the same love for a wildflower as for the wide, open spaces that dominate the horizon." Ettore’s technique comes essentially from Impressionism. Impressionism broke with the timeworn tradition, abandoning the artificial environment and cold light of the studio for the canopy of the open sky. In his landscapes, Ettore reveals his dedication to that practice. Everywhere in this aspect of his work, one is persuades that these pictures are the product of the artist’s direct encounter with nature.