Silvio Loffredo was born in Paris in 1920 following his family’s move there from Torre del Greco. His first teacher was his father Michele, a well-known portraitist who taught him how to draw and introduced him to many other artists that were living in Paris at the time, including the cubists Pablo Picasso and Fernand Legér.
Silvio attended the Grand Chaumiére School of the Nude in Paris and while being a student there worked as a tailor with his brother Victor.
Shortly before the war, Loffredo married another portraitist Suzanna Newell; during the Second World War, he fought in the Italian troops supporting the 8th Army.
At the end of the war, he moved to Rome where he attended the academy under the direction of Amerigo Bartoli. Loffredo then went to Siena and finally transferred permanently to Florence where he began his apprenticeship under Ottone Rosai, rediscovering French painting and the great pictorial innovations introduced by Picasso.
Between 1950 and 1960, he eagerly dedicated himself to being a director and worked together with his brother Victor on various projects for the Cooperativa del Nuovo Cinema Indipendente (New Independent Cinema Cooperative) in Rome.
Between 1959 and 1960, he took one of his personal shows to Philadelphia, where he was introduced to the American avant-gardes.
In 1962, he took part in the XXXI Venice Biennale. After numerous commissions in Europe, he was invited to New York in 1970 for some public commissions. From 1973 to 1990, he held the painting chair at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts.
In 2004, he was awarded the Città di Firenze Beato Angelico prize in Palazzo Vecchio. His self-portrait is on display in the Vasari Corridor of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
