Paolo della Bella was born in Fiesole in 1944. Rooted in comic illustration, the field in which he initially made his name, della Bella’s art is characterised by a supreme lightness and joviality. In 1967 he won first prize in the second instalment of a competition based on new comic characters at the International Comic Show in Lucca. He would found the Stanza Group that same year, alongside his peers and role models Graziano Braschi and Berlinghiero Buonarroti. The collective had their illustrations published in screen-printed books and exhibitions before going on to establish Ca Balà: a magazine dedicated to caricature, graphic humour and political satire inspired by the socialist magazine L’Asino. His love for illustration and comicality blend into his more artistic work.
In 1982, the Stanza Group curated the exhibition Humour mon Amour at Palazzina Mangani in della Bella’s hometown of Fiesole, bringing together examples of comic illustrations from between 1940 and 1982.
From then on until the turn of the millennium, the artist produced a series of posters, chiefly for the region of Tuscany and municipality of Fiesole, and used the medium of photography to document numerous cultural and political events, with a particular geographical focus on his hometown.
The 1990s saw the publication of various books including such artistic works as Sorrisi in 1992, and a collection of poetry entitled Bugie vere in 1994, which was accompanied by an exhibition of the artist’s work at the historic literary cafe Le Giubbe Rosse in Florence, all while continuing to publish illustrations in magazines of note.
In 1999 the European Parliament in Strasbourg inaugurated his anthological personal exhibition A dream made in the presence of reason, which also included a comprehensive catalogue.
He would continue his satirical journalistic collaborations into the 21st century with the publications L’Avanti della Domenica (2010–2013) and Cultura Commestibile (2011–).
