Gruppo dei Sei (Group of Six) or Sei di Torino (Six from Turin) was a group of painters who emerged under the mentorship of

Felice Casorati Felice Casorati (December 4, 1883 – March 1, 1963) was an Italian painter, sculptor, and printmaker. The paintings for which he is most noted include figure compositions, portraits and still lifes, which are often distinguished by unusua ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

in the late 1920s. They exhibited together for three years starting in 1929. Although each artist had an individual style, they were linked together by the influence of Parisian

post-impressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...

and

fauvism Fauvism /ˈfoʊvɪzm̩/ is the style of ''les Fauves'' (French language, French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the Representation (arts), repr ...

, including the work of

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (, ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and ...

, and their anti-fascist ideology – a position that set them apart from other movements like

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 Benito Mussolini, Mussolini. History Novecento Italiano was founded by Anselmo Bucci (1887–1955), Leonardo ...

and

Futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...

. The six artists in the group were: *

Jessie Boswell Jessie Boswell (March 10, 1881 – September 22, 1956) was an English painter, active mainly in her adoptive Piedmont, known as being one of the painters of the ''Gruppo dei Sei Pittori'' (1929–1931) in that city. Biography She was born in Leeds ...

(

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, 1881 -

Moncrivello Moncrivello is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vercelli in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about 35 km west of Vercelli. It is home to a medieval castle which was a residence of Yolande of Val ...

, 1956), *

Gigi Chessa Luigi Maria Giorgio Chessa (1898–1935) was an Italian painter, architect, scenic designer, and potter (ceramics painter). Biography He was born in Turin, where he first trained under his father Carlo Chessa. He attended the Accademia Albertina, ...

(Turin, 1898 - Turin, 1935), *

Nicola Galante Nicola may refer to: People * Nicola (name), including a list of people with the given name or, less commonly, the surname **Nicola (artist) or Nicoleta Alexandru, singer who represented Romania at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest * Nicola people, ...

, (

Vasto Vasto ( Abruzzese: '; grc, Ἱστόνιον, Histonion}, la, Histonium) is a ''comune'' on the Adriatic coast of the Province of Chieti, in southern Abruzzo, Italy. During the Middle Ages it was called d''Guastaymonis'', '' Vasto d'Aimone'' or ...

, 1883 -

, 1969), *

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 ...

(Turin, 1902 -

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, 1975), *

Francesco Menzio Francesco Menzio (3 April 1899 – 28 November 1979) was an Italian painter. Childhood and training He was born in Tempio Pausania, Sassari in Sardinia, to Pietro Angelo Menzio, a high school teacher, and Augusta Pic, both originally from Piedmon ...

(Turin, 1899 - Turin, 1979), *

Enrico Paulucci Delle Roncole Enrico is both an Italian masculine given name and a surname, Enrico means homeowner, or king, derived from ''Heinrich'' of Germanic origin. It is also a given name in Ladino. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Henri (French), En ...

(Genoa, 1901 - Turin, 1999). Their association was championed by art critics like

Edoardo Persico Edoardo Persico (Naples, 8 February 1900 - Milan, 10 January 1936) was an Italian architecture and art critic, designer and essayist. Early years Persico was born in Naples, where he attended high school. In 1920, he moved to Paris to study law. Th ...

and

Lionello Venturi Lionello Venturi (25 April 1885, Modena – 14 August 1961, Rome) was an Italian historian and critic of art. He edited the first catalogue raisonné of Paul Cézanne. Life Lionello Venturi was born in 1885, son of art historian Adolfo Venturi. ...

and contemporary art collector

Riccardo Gualino Riccardo Gualino (25 March 1879 – 6 June 1964) was an Italian Business magnate and art collector. He was also a patron, and an important film producer. His first business empire was based on lumber from Eastern Europe and included forest concess ...

who, together with his wife, had purchased a theater in Turin where he was endorsing avant-garde music concerts, dances, art events and plays. The six artists first exhibited together in the spring of 1929 at Galleria Guglielmi in Turin. In November the same year they had two other shows at Circolo della Stampa in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

and at Galleria Bardi 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 ...

(later to be known as Galleria Il Milione). A combination of personal and political disagreements eventually contributed to split the group apart, along with Gualino's decision to withdraw his financial support following the

Wall Street Crash of 1929 The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...

and his being put under

house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if all ...

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

's government. Levi, Menzio, and Paulucci delle Roncole continued to exhibit together until 1935.Article assembled from Italian wikipedia entry.

Bibliography

* Exhibition catalogue. * * Texts by

Giulio Carlo Argan Giulio Carlo Argan (17 May 1909 – 12 November 1992) was an Italian art historian, critic and politician. Biography Argan was born in Turin and studied in the University of Turin, graduating in 1931. In 1928 he entered the National Fascist Part ...

, Carlo Levi, Enrico Paulucci delle Roncole. * * * {{cite book, author=Bandini, Mirella , title=''I sei pittori di Torino: 1929-1931'' , year=1999 , publisher=Musumeci , location=Aosta

Gallery

Lionello Venturi.jpg,

Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico - BEIC 6361594.jpg, Carlo Levi in his studio Francesco Menzio in his studio, 1950s.jpg, Francesco Menzio in his studio Art movements Avant-garde art Italian art movements Modern art Italian artist groups and collectives