Salvatore Scarpitta, born in New York in 1919 to an Italian father, also an artist, and a mother of Russian-Polish origin, grew up in Hollywood where the family relocated shortly after his birth. From his early youth, Scarpitta developed a passion for car racing and immersed himself in the world surrounding it, an environment he had been exposed to since birth. He frequented Los Angeles, particularly the Legion Ascot Speedway in Boyle Heights, where he avidly watched races and encountered numerous renowned drivers who left a profound and enduring impression on him.
Completing his secondary education in Hollywood in 1936, Scarpitta travelled to Italy and enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, graduating in 1940. During World War II, following an escape from prison, he engaged in the Italian Resistance, serving as a liaison with the US Army. Subsequently, he enlisted in the US Navy and became part of the famed Monuments Men. Upon his discharge in the spring of 1946 in San Pedro, California, he returned to Italy and settled in Rome.
His artistic journey began in Rome, where he took part in the Quadrennial in 1948, followed by his debut solo exhibition at the Chiurazzi Gallery the next year. Throughout the 1950s, Scarpitta showcased his work in solo and group exhibitions across Europe and the United States, including participations at the Venice Biennale in 1952, 1956, and 1958. In 1958, he unveiled his everted canvases and banded works at the Galleria La Tartaruga in Rome, garnering critical acclaim and stimulating many Italian and American artists. This exhibition caught the attention of Leo Castelli, leading to an invitation to exhibit at Castelli’s gallery in New York. In December 1958, Scarpitta returned to the United States and showcased his bandaged works at the Leo Castelli Gallery the following January. This exhibition marked the beginning of a fruitful collaboration and friendship between Scarpitta and Castelli, evident through numerous solo and group exhibitions in the ensuing decades. The most recent of these exhibitions, commemorating the gallery’s forty years of operation, opened in January 1998. In the early Sixties, Scarpitta began intertwining his love for racing cars with his artistic pursuits by constructing two racing cars: Rajo Jack and Hal Special. These creations were showcased as artworks in 1965 at the Leo Castelli Gallery. Following this automotive-themed exhibition, another followed in 1969 at the Leo Castelli Warehouse on 108th Street in New York. Between the autumn of 1973 and the end of 1974, Scarpitta dedicated himself to the creation of his first sleds, which he unveiled in January 1975 at Leo Castelli’s gallery. Then, in the summer of 1985, in his studio-garage in Baltimore, Maryland, he fulfilled one of his youthful dreams by constructing a fully operational racing car (Dirt Track Racer). The following year, with the backing of Leo Castelli, Scarpitta took to the dirt tracks of Maryland and Pennsylvania to compete against some of the era’s greatest champions. From the 1950s until the present day, Scarpitta’s works have been featured in numerous exhibitions across Europe and the United States. In 1985, the Pavilion of Contemporary Art in Milan hosted a solo exhibition showcasing his works from 1958 to 1985. In 1993, Scarpitta received an invitation to present his own room at the Venice Biennale, and in April 2003, he received the Guglielmo Marconi Prize for Painting. Between the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, a significant retrospective was dedicated to Scarpitta at the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin, curated by Germano Celant and Danilo Eccher. Scarpitta’s artworks are held in several American museums, such as the Whitney Museum in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as well as European ones, such as the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin, the Museo del ‘900 in Milan, and the museum of modern and contemporary art of Trento and Rovereto. In 2005, the general catalog of his works was published, edited by Luigi Sansone and published by Gabriele Mazzotta. Scarpitta passed away in New York on April 10, 2007.