| Giuseppe Zigaina | |
| Birth Date: | 2 April 1924 |
| Birth Place: | Cervignano del Friuli, Udine, Italy |
| Death Place: | Palmanova, Udine, Italy |
Giuseppe Zigaina (2 April 1924 – 16 April 2015) was an Italian neorealist painter and an author.
Born in Cervignano del Friuli, Udine, as a child Zigaina showed an early propensity for drawing.[1] He studied at the College of Tolmino, and at 19 he held his first exhibition.[1] In 1946 he met Pier Paolo Pasolini, with whom he established a solid artistic collaboration which included the illustration of some books and the involvement in some films as an actor and as a writer.[1] [2] After the death of Pasolini Zigaina wrote several books about his art.[1]
After winning the Fontanesi Prize at the Venice Biennale in 1950, Zigaina's works were gradually influenced by the German New Objectivity.[1] Starting from 1965 he eventually adopted the technique of engraving, which became gradually distinctive of his artistic production.[1] In 1984 Zigaina moved to San Francisco to teach at the Art Institute.[1]