Adriana Pincherle (Rome, 1905 - Florence, 1996) was an Italian painter.

Childhood and education

Adriana Pincherle, the older sister of writer Alberto Moravia, came from an upper-middle-class family. Her father, Carlo Pincherle, was Jewish and her mother, Isa De Marsanich, was Catholic."Progetti Aderenti Al SIUSA." SIUSA. Web. 11 Feb. 2016. From an early age, Pincherle took special interest in her father’s watercolors, and it was probably then that a sensitivity to art and color was born in her. After finishing her classical studies, she began to attend Alfredo Petrucci’s atelier ‘for young ladies’ and she enrolled in the Scuola Libera del Nudo at the

Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma The Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma is a public tertiary academy of art in Rome, Italy. It was founded in the sixteenth century, but the present institution dates from the time of the unification of Italy and the capture of Rome by the Kingdom ...

. During her studies, she met Mimmo Spadini and Scipione, thanks to whom she was able to make inroads into the Roman artistic environment."Pincherle Adriana (1905 - 1996)." Pincherle Adriana. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.

Career

Pincherle made her artistic debut in 1931 in the group show “Prima mostra romana d'arte femminile” at the Galleria di Roma, where Roberto Longhi noticed her. In 1932, at the same gallery, she exhibited one of her works alongside that of

Corrado Cagli Corrado Cagli (1910–1976) was an Italian painter of Jewish heritage, who lived in the United States during World War II. Life Cagli was born in Ancona but he moved with his family to Rome in 1915 at the age of five. In 1927, he made his ar ...

. Noted by Longhi, the work made her his favorite of the two artists."E' morta Adriana Pincherle - La Repubblica.it." Archivio. Web. 11 Feb. 2016. Her personal and intellectual growth was due to her exchange of study between the Scuola Romana and the school of painters of the Via Cavour group, but her maturation in the field of painterly research and in her style began with her stay in Paris in 1933. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she began to experiment with the technique of tempera painting.Ostuni, Giustina. Adriana Pincherle Tempere. Livorno: S I L L a B E, 2001. Print. She was particularly influenced by the

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

movement and the styles of the Fauves, Renoir, and

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

. Newly returned to Florence in 1933, Pincherle made her first appearance in the Sala d’arte delle Nazioni and in the Galerie de la Jeune Europe in Paris. She made the acquaintance of the founders of the group “I sei di Torino”, stimulating the beginning of her re-elaboration of her French work. Between 1934 and 1936, the artist dedicated herself to exhibiting her work, including at the 1934 Exhibition of Contemporary Italian Art in the USA, in 1935 at the second Rome Quadriennale, and in 1936 at the gallery "La Cometa". In the following years, she exhibited at different shows in Rome, Florence, Milan, and Venice. Roberto Longhi presented her work at the Galleria del Vantaggio in Rome in 1955, demonstrating her artistic growth over the course of her career. Often, the painter did not sign her masterpieces until the moment of their sale or exhibition. Notwithstanding the death of her husband in 1966, Pincherle continued to paint until the final days of her life, though she suffered memory loss. She died following a heart attack on January 8, 1996.

Private life

She met the painter Onofrio Martinelli in Genoa and married him in 1934. Pincherle and Martinelli moved into her home in Florence in 1934. With the arrival of

and racial discrimination, Pincherle was forced to hide in small towns including Bibbiena, Vallombrosa and Taranto due to her Jewish heritage. After the end of the war, the couple began a series of annual trips to Paris in continual search of contemporary French artworks.

Style

Adriana Pincherle showed a preference for portraiture. She admitted also that she enjoyed painting in tempera more than in oil. Furthermore, she preferred to mix different painting techniques. In her style, characterized by vibrant colors, you can recognize her homages to the works of Scipione, the darting brushstrokes typical of

Carlo Levi Carlo Levi () (29 November 1902 – 4 January 1975) was an Italian painter, writer, activist, communist, and doctor. He is best known for his book '' Cristo si è fermato a Eboli'' (''Christ Stopped at Eboli''), published in 1945, a memoir of h ...

, and other techniques practiced by painters that influenced her in 1933, among them Soutine, Pascin,

Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

, and Derain. Another source of inspiration for the painter was her father and his style of watercolor, which was in turn inspired by

Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

. “Passavo delle ore a guardarlo dipingere, mi affascinava” ("I spent hours watching him paint, it fascinated me").

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pincherle, Adriana 1905 births 1996 deaths 20th-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian women artists Painters from Rome Modern artists Italian women painters 20th-century women painters