Achille Lega (21 April 1899 – 28 January 1934) was an Italian painter. His early work was in the

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abo ...

style and he later became a

cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

. Lega was born in

Brisighella Brisighella ( rgn, Brisighëla) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Ravenna, region of Emilia-Romagna, in Northeast Italy. Brisighella borders the following municipalities: Casola Valsenio, Castrocaro Terme e Terra del Sole, Faenza ...

but lived in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

from the age of ten. He first studied painting with

Ludovico Tommasi Ludovico Tommasi (1866 in Livorno – 1941 in Florence) was an Italian painter. Biography Inspired by the example of his elder brother Angiolo and his cousin Adolfo, Ludovico Tommasi devoted himself to painting, developing his art in close cont ...

, who belonged to the Postmacchiaioli movement. In 1914, he enrolled into the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

but abandoned the studies after two years. Lega's first notable painting, ''The Pier of Livorno'', was produced in 1914 under the influence of Tommasi, however, it went well beyond emulating the style of Tommasi. In July 1915, Lega was invited to participate in a collective art exhibition in Pistoia. In subsequent years, he was interested in such subjects as rural life, painting in a strongly simplified manner. In the 1910s, he was a regular customer of cafe Giubbe rosse in Florence, where, in particular, he met with

futurists Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...

including

Ardengo Soffici Ardengo Soffici (7 April 1879 – 19 August 1964) was an Italian writer, painter, poet, sculptor and intellectual. Early life Soffici was born in Rignano sull'Arno, near Florence. In 1893 his family moved to the latter city, where he stud ...

Umberto Boccioni Umberto Boccioni (, ; 19 October 1882 – 17 August 1916) was an influential Italian painter and sculptor. He helped shape the revolutionary aesthetic of the Futurism movement as one of its principal figures. Despite his short life, his approach ...

, and

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist, and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye d ...

who influenced his art. He became friends with

Ottone Rosai Ottone Rosai (28 April 1895 – 13 May 1957) was an Italian painter born in Florence. Biography Rosai graduated from the Florence Academy of Fine Arts in 1912, a period in which he was closely associated with the Lacerba group of Florentine Futur ...

and remained close to Rosai until his death. Between 1916 and 1919, Lega was mainly under the influence of Soffici, following futurist trends but remaining within figurative art. In 1918, Lega was drafted as a soldier and for a short time was posted in

Carrara Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence. Its mot ...

. Starting from 1919, for several years he participated in yearly Grand Futurist Exhibitions organized by Marinetti in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. On 15 November 1922, Lega's first personal exhibition was opened in Florence. Between 1926 and 1933, Lega collaborated with the biweekly magazine ''

Il Selvaggio ''Il Selvaggio'' (Italian: ''the Savage'' or ''the Wild One'') was a political and arts magazine that existed between 1924 and 1943. It was a media outlet of an intellectual group called Strapaese (Italian: Supervillage). History and profile ''I ...

'', not only providing illustrations, but sometimes writing articles. Between 1926 and 1929 he exhibited in Milan with the ''

Novecento Italiano Novecento Italiano () was an Italian artistic movement founded in Milan in 1922 to create an art based on the rhetoric of the fascism of Mussolini. History Novecento Italiano was founded by Anselmo Bucci (1887–1955), Leonardo Dudreville (1885 ...

'' art movement, which also included

Mario Sironi Mario Sironi (May 12, 1885 – August 13, 1961) was an Italian modernist artist who was active as a painter, sculptor, illustrator, and designer. His typically somber paintings are characterized by massive, immobile forms. Biography He was bor ...

, Achille Funi, and Gian Emilio Malerba. In this period, he also changed his style, preferring simplified geometrical forms. Between 1928 and 1934, Lega exhibited at the Biennale in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

. He died in Florence on 28 January 1934.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lega, Achille 20th-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian male artists Italian male painters 1899 births 1934 deaths