Cortona Major historical figures cortona Gino Severini (1883-1966) Cortona Guide ® Gino Severini (1883-1966) Cortona biography of Gino severini painter Cortona Arezzo Umbria Italy

CORTONA Major historical figures - Gino Severini (1883-1966)

Born in Cortona on April 7th 1883, after completing his initial studies at the Scuola Tecnica, in 1899 Gino Severini moved with his mother to Rome where he began working as an accountant.

In the Italian capital, Severini met Umberto Boccioni, who had also arrived in the city recently and who would later become one of the leading exponents of Futurism. Along with Boccioni, Severini frequented the studio of Giacomo Balla, master of the divisionist technique of ‘dividing’ colours in painting rather than mixing them.

After moving to Paris in November1906, Severini studied the impressionist masters and met the neo-impressionist painter Paul Signac. He soon became friends with the leading avant-garde artists of the French capital at the time: Georges Braque, Juan Gris, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Lugné-Poë and his theatrical circle; the poets Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Fort, and Max Jacob, and the writer Jules Romains.

Although based in Paris, Severini remained in close contact with Italy, so much so that he was one of the artists to adhere to Futurism and sign the Futurist Painting Technical Manifesto in 1910.

He also helped organise the first Parisian exhibition of futurist artists at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery in February 1912 and took part in successive exhibitions of futurist art both in Europe and the United States.

The first solo show of Severini’s work was held in 1313 in London, at the Marlborough Gallery. The show then travelled to Berlin, where it was hosted by the Der Sturm gallery the same year.

Severini was to constitute an important link between the Italian and French artistic scenes throughout the futurist period.

With the publication of his "Du cubisme au classicisme" in 1916, Severini departed from his cubist purism and adopted a neoclassical style with metaphysical echoes. In 1923 he took part in the Rome Biennale and was included in both exhibitions featuring artists from the Novecento group in Milan in 1926 and 1929, as well as the Geneva version that was organised also in 1929. In 1928 Severini moved back to Rome and his work began to include elements from the city’s Classical landscape. In 1930 he took part in the Venice Biennale along with the other Italian artists who had lived in Paris. Severini took part in the 1931 and 1935 Rome Quadriennale shows, where in 1935 he won the Gran Premio per la Pittura and was featured with an entire room of his work. After returning to Paris, Severini divided his time between Rome and the French capital, and completed a cycle of works for the Paris Exhibition. In 1938 he was featured at the Cometa gallery with a number of mosaics.

autoritratto, 1916

autoritratto, 1916

In the 1950s Severini returned to his futurist subjects: dancers, light and movement. During this period he completed works for the church of Saint-Pierre in Freiburg and inaugurated the Consegna delle Chiavi mosaic. His mosaics were shown at the Cahiers d'Art gallery in Paris and he held a conference on the history of mosaic in Ravenna. He received commissions to decorate the offices of Klm in Rome and Alitalia in Paris, and took part in the exhibition The Futurists, Balla - Severini 1912-1918, held at New York’s Rose Fried Gallery. In Rome he worked on photographs and his own memory to reconstruct the Pan Pan Dance mosaic that had been destroyed during the War. Severini was then featured in a solo show in Paris and was awarded the Premio Nazionale di Pittura of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. At the 9th edition of the Rome Quadriennale he exhibited two collages and three sculptures. He was also featured in a solo show at the Accademia di San Luca. His autobiography was republished.

Severini died on February 26th 1966 in his Parisian home at no. 11, rue Schoelcher. On April 15th of the same year his body was brought back to Cortona.

OPERE
(Le informazioni che seguono sono tratte da: Roberto G. Salvatori, Appunti per una Bibliografia aretina (articolata e ragionata) dalle origini al 1999, versione online, URL: http://www.unisi.it/bla/bibliografia_aretina.html , aggiornamento a cura di Elisabetta Di Benedetto - ultimo aggiornamento 2000-09-18 ) Arezzo: Homard cru (1963) collez. Dottor R. Basagni; Birmingham (Michigan – USA) Ballerina=mare (1913-14) collez. Harry L. Winston; Bolzano: Pas de deux N. 2 (1950) collez. Pier Luigi Siena; Mare-cielo (1955) collez. Pier Luigi Siena; Cortona: sala a lui dedicata nel Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca; mosaici (15 pannelli) della Via Crucis nella via S. Margherita (1945-46); San Nicolò (1959) Confraternita di San Nicolò; San Marco (1961) mosaico esterno della chiesa di San Marco; Firenze: Contadino al sole (Paysan au soleil) (1909) collez. Duckett; Natura morta (uva e mandolino) (1919) collez. privata; Natura morta (paniere di uva e bottiglia) (1919) collez. privata; suoi dipinti nel museo Alberto della Ragione e nella Galleria d’Arte Moderna; decorazioni (1921-22) nel Castello di Montegufoni [DPP]; Friburgo (Svizzera): Mosè fa scaturire le acque (1951) mosaico nella chiesa di San Pietro; Genova: Tram in corsa (1913) collez. Avv. M. Tarello; L’Aja: Les deux Polichinelles (1922) Museo Comunale; La Roche (Svizzera): Ultima cena (1927) affresco nella chiesa del paese; Londra: Le Boulevard (1910 Tate Gallery; Milano: Ballerina in blu (1912) collez. Gianni Mattioli; Dinamismo di una danzatrice (1912) collez. R. Jucker; Il tango argentino (1912) collez. Galleria Annunciata; Omaggio a mio padre (1912) collez. Galleria Blu; Omaggio a mia madre (La macchina da cucire) (1912) collez. Galleria Blu; L’autobus (1912) collez. Riccardo Jucker;Tango argentino (1913) collez. Prospero Guarini; Espansione sferica della luce (Centrifuga) (1914) collez. Riccardo Jucker; Arlequin à la mandoline (1918) collez. Galleria del Naviglio; Composizione (La chitarra) (1918) collez. Gianni Mattioli; Paysahe (Le Châtelard) (1918) collez. Galleria del Naviglio; Il lavoro (1949) collez. Galleria Annunciata; Monaco: Les voix de ma chambre (1909), collez. Günther Scharnowski; New York: La danseuse obsédante (1909) collez. Samuel S. Kurzman; Geroglifico dinamico del Bal Tabarin (1912) nel Museo d’Arte Moderna; Ballerina (1912) collez. Marlborough-Gerson Gallery; Fête à Montmartre collez. Richard S. Zeisler; Il treno blindato (1915) collez. Richard S. Zeisler; Il tunnel (1917) collez. Marlboroug-Gerson Gallery; Les liseuses (1917) collez. Marlboroug-Gerson Gallery; collez. Marlboroug-Gerson Gallery; Still life (Composizione) (1918) collez. Marlboroug-Gerson Gallery; Parigi: La danza del pan-pan al Monico (1910-12) nel Musée d’Art Moderne (replicata, perché dispersa, nel 1959); Marchand d’oublies ("Avenue Trudaine") (1908) collez. Marie-Anne Prunières; Maternité (1916) collez. Severini; Portrait de Jeanne (1916) collez. Severini; Nature morte à la pipe (1917) collez. privata; Ritmo e architettura delle tre Grazie (1949) collez. Severini; Pas de deux N. 1 (1950) collez. Severini; Danseuse et Polichinelle (1950) collez. Severini; Danseur classique (1956) collez. privata; Maïs et vase bleu (1965) collez. Severini; Arlecchino (1965) collez. Severini; decorazioni per le KLM [DPP]; Roma: Via di Porta Pinciana al tramonto (1903) collez. Avv. N. Mazzocchi; Ritratto di mia madre (Settimia Severini) (1907) collez. Marina Tagliareni Severini; Autoritratto (1912) collez. G. Sprovieri; Tête de jeune fille (Portrait de ma jeune fiancée) (1913) collez. Sandro Franchina; Ritmo plastico del 14 luglio (1913) collez. Gina e Nino Franchina; Formes d’une danseuse dans la lumière (1913) collez. Romana Severini d’Ayala; Femme assise (1914) collez. On. P. Campilli; Strumenti musicali e carte (1919) collez. M.L. Astaldi; Natura morta con faraona (1939?) collez. Signorelli; Odalisca e Pulcinella (1943) collez. Maria Cestelli Guidi; La primavera (1950?) collez. Maria Cestelli-Guidi; Le macchine (trattori agricoli) (1957?) collez. M.L. Astaldi; Danseuse en paysanne (1950?) collez. M.L. Astaldi; Movimento suono luce (ritmo di una ballerina) (1959) collez. Ing. Daniele Sette; decorazioni per l’Alitalia; Rotterdam: Pierrot musicien (Pulcinella con la chitarra) (1924) Museo Boymans-van Beuningen; Sion (Svizzera): Stimmate di San Francesco (1947) affresco nella chiesa dei Cappuccini; [Svizzera]: affreschi e mosaici nelle chiese di Semsales, Tavannes, Notre-Dame du Valentin a Losanna; Toronto: Treno dei feriti (1915) collez. Zacks; Venezia: Ballerina+mare (1913) collez. Peggy Guggenheim; Le vase bleu (1917) collez. Giorgio Cini; Wayzata (Minnesota – USA) Danse espagnole à Monico (1913) collez. Samuel H. Maslon; Zurigo: Cavallo che salta (1954) collez. Nesto Jacometti; Luoghi imprecisati: Primavera a Montmartre (1909); Le chat noir (1912); Danseuse (1950); Les musciens (Concerto di maschere) [litografia 1955]; Le cycliste [litografia 1956]; Composizione (pesce e compostiera su un guéridon) [litografia: 1956]; Danse espagnole [litografia 1960-61] - [Scritti: Du cubisme au classicisme (1921); Ragionamenti sulle arti figurative (1936); Tutta la vita di un pittore (1946)]. bibl.: Jacques MARITAIN, Gino Severini, Parigi 1930; P. COURTHION, Gino Severini, Milano 1930; J. CASSOU, Gino Severini, Parigi 1933; P. FIERENS, Gino Severini, Parigi-Milano 1936; B. WALL, Gino Severini, Londra 1946; Lionello VENTURI, Gino Severini, Roma 1961; "Catalogo della mostra antologica di Palazzo Venezia", Roma 1961; Piero PACINI, Gino Severini, Firenze, Sansoni/SADEA 1966; "Catalogo della mostra al Museo d’Arte Moderna", Parigi 1967; "Accademia Etrusca, Cortona - Museo", La sala Gino Severini nel Museo dell'Accademia di Cortona. Catalogo, Cortona, Grafiche Calosci 1972; Piero PACINI, Gli autoritratti di Gino Severini, Firenze, Olschki 1986, pp. 40.