Roberto Papini, architect, art historian, critic and teacher, was born in 1883 in Pistoia. He studied drawing and architecture at the Politecnico in Milan; he then completed coursework in mathematics and physics at the University of Pisa. From 1908-1910 he studied art history with Adolfo Venturi at the University of Rome.
He held a number of important appointments throughout his life, including the secretaryship of the “Associazione per l’arte in Pisa” (1907-1908), the directorships of the Galleria Comunale di Prato (1912), the Pinacoteca di Brera (1920), the Galleria Nazionale d’arte Moderna in Rome (1933), and the Museum of Arts and Industry (1928) in Rome. He also worked for the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the superintendent responsible for the furnishing of embassies, consulates, and legations abroad from 1921-1926.
He was a founder of the magazine Architettura e arti decorative, as well as the author of numerous journal and magazine articles on contemporary art and urbanism. He wrote for a variety of periodicals including newspapers such as Conciliatore, Corriere della Sera, and Il Mondo, and the magazines, Rassegna italiana, Dedalo, and Emporium. He was the author of many art history publications, including Catalogo delle cose d’arte e di antichità d’Italia: Pisa (2 volumes; Rome, Calzone, 1912-1914); Catalogo della Galleria Comunale di Prato (1912); Le arti a Monza nel MCMXXIII (1923), and a three-volume monograph on Francesco di Giorgio Martini published in 1946.
After the Second World War, Papini was appointed to the commission to reconstruct Florence’s historic center. He also taught art history at various universities, first at the Museo Artistico Industriale di Roma, then at the University for Foreigners in Perugia. In 1934 he was appointed Professor of Florentine Art at the Istituto Superiore d'Architettura. In 1941 he became Professor of Architectural History in the Architecture department, and in 1943 he initiated a course on the style and construction of monuments.
The bulk of the collection regards Roberto Papini (RP) and consists of personal papers (18 boxes of correspondence, documents, and photographs). A great portion of the material relates to his activity as an architectural historian and as professor at the University of Architecture in Florence. The other significant part of the collection consists of Papini's correspondence. Arranged alphabetically by sender, these records reflect the wide range of relationships Papini maintained with architects and artists during the Fascist period and the 1950s.
The collection also includes the papers of Roberto Papini’s second wife, the Hungarian-born sculptor Livia de Kuzmik. This smaller collection includes some material related to her activity as a sculptor as well as personal correspondence, primarily from her relatives in Hungary. It also includes a portfolio of 49 drawings, mainly studies of male and female nude models, and some preparatory studies for unidentified sculptures.