Born into a family of master ceramicists, Oliviero Leonardi (1921 - 2019) was an Italian painter and sculptor based in Rome and Paris. He was largely recognized in the 1970/80s as one of the leader in painting with experimental materials on steel plates. His artistic research focused, among others, on the subject of cosmogony. He was partially influenced by futurism, surrealism, cubism and art informel.