Gino Severini (7 April 1883 – 26 February 1966) was an Italian

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

and a leading member of 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 ...

movement. For much of his life he divided his time between Paris and Rome. He was associated with

neo-classicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism w ...

and the "

return to order The return to order (French: ''retour à l'ordre'') was a European art movement that followed the First World War, rejecting the extreme avant-garde art of the years up to 1918 and taking its inspiration from classical art instead. The movement w ...

" in the decade after the First World War. During his career he worked in a variety of media, including

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

and

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...

. He showed his work at major exhibitions, including the

Rome Quadrennial The Rome Quadriennale (Italian: ''Quadriennale di Roma'', also called in English the ''Rome Quadrennial'') is a foundation for the promotion of contemporary Italian art. Its name derives from the four-yearly exhibitions it is required to host by ...

, and won art prizes from major institutions.

Early life

Severini was born into a poor family in

Cortona Cortona (, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic centre of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo. Toponymy Cortona is derived from Latin Cortōna, and from Etruscan 𐌂𐌖� ...

, Italy. His father was a junior court official and his mother a dressmaker. He studied at the Scuola Tecnica in Cortona until the age of fifteen, when he and a group of fellow-classmates were expelled from the entire Italian school system for the attempted theft of exam papers. The boys escaped a custodial sentence but Severini never again attended formal education. For a while he worked with his father; then in 1899 he moved to Rome with his mother. It was there that he first showed a serious interest in art, painting in his spare time while working as a shipping clerk. With the help of a patron of Cortonese origins he attended art classes, enrolling in the free school for nude studies (an annex of the Rome Fine Art Institute) and a private academy. His formal art education ended after two years when his patron stopped his allowance, declaring, "I absolutely do not understand your lack of order."Severini, G., ''The Life of a Painter'', Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1995. In 1900 he met the painter Umberto Boccioni. Together they visited the studio of

Giacomo Balla Giacomo Balla (18 July 1871 – 1 March 1958) was an Italian painter, art teacher and poet best known as a key proponent of Futurism. In his paintings he depicted light, movement and speed. He was concerned with expressing movement in his works, ...

, where they were introduced to the technique of

Divisionism Divisionism, also called chromoluminarism, was the characteristic style in Neo-Impressionist painting defined by the separation of colors into individual dots or patches which interacted optically..Homer, William I. ''Seurat and the Science of ...

, painting with adjacent rather than mixed colors and breaking the painted surface into a field of stippled dots and stripes. The ideas of Divisionism had a great influence on Severini's early work and on Futurist painting from 1910 to 1911. Severini settled in Paris in November 1906. The move was momentous for him. He said later, "The cities to which I feel most strongly bound are Cortona and Paris: I was born physically in the first, intellectually and spiritually in the second." He lived in

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

and dedicated himself to painting. There he met most of the rising artists of the period, befriending

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 occupying a studio next to those of

Raoul Dufy Raoul Dufy (; 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953) was a French Fauvist painter. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textile as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted ...

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with Fauvism from 1905, and the role he play ...

and

Suzanne Valadon Suzanne Valadon (23 September 18657 April 1938) was a French painter who was born Marie-Clémentine Valadon at Bessines-sur-Gartempe, Haute-Vienne, France. In 1894, Valadon became the first woman painter admitted to the Société Nationale des ...

. He knew most of the Parisian

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...

, including

Jean Metzinger Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (; 24 June 1883 – 3 November 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism. His earliest works, from 1 ...

Albert Gleizes Albert Gleizes (; 8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953) was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on ...

Juan Gris José Victoriano González-Pérez (23 March 1887 – 11 May 1927), better known as Juan Gris (; ), was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France for most of his active period. Closely connected to the innovative artistic ge ...

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

Lugné-Poe Aurélien-Marie Lugné (27 December 1869 19 June 1940), known by his stage and pen name Lugné-Poe, was a French actor, theatre director, and scenic designer. He founded the landmark Paris theatre company, the Théâtre de l'Œuvre, which produc ...

and his theatrical circle, the poets

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of t ...

Paul Fort Jules-Jean-Paul Fort (1 February 1872 – 20 April 1960) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. At the age of 18, reacting against the Naturalistic theatre, Fort founded the Théâtre d'Art (1890–93). He also founded and edit ...

, Max Jacob, and author

Jules Romains Jules Romains (born Louis Henri Jean Farigoule; 26 August 1885 – 14 August 1972) was a French poet and writer and the founder of the Unanimism literary movement. His works include the play '' Knock ou le Triomphe de la médecine'', and a cycle ...

. The sale of his work did not provide enough to live on and he depended on the generosity of patrons.

Futurism

He was invited by

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 ...

and Boccioni to join the Futurist movement and was a co-signatory, with Balla, Boccioni,

Carlo Carrà Carlo Carrà (; February 11, 1881 – April 13, 1966) was an Italian painter and a leading figure of the Futurist movement that flourished in Italy during the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to his many paintings, he wrote a number ...

, and Luigi Russolo, of th
''Manifesto of the Futurist Painters''
in February 1910 and th

in April the same year. He was an important link between artists in France and Italy and came into contact with Cubism before his Futurist colleagues. Following a visit to Paris in 1911, the Italian Futurists adopted a sort of Cubism, which gave them a means of analysing energy in paintings and expressing dynamism. Severini helped to organize the first Futurist exhibition outside Italy at Galerie

Bernheim-Jeune Bernheim-Jeune gallery is one of the oldest art galleries in Paris. Opened on Rue Laffitte in 1863 by Alexandre Bernheim (1839-1915), friend of Delacroix, Corot and Courbet, it changed location a few times before settling on Avenue Matignon. Th ...

, Paris, in February 1912 and participated in subsequent Futurist shows in Europe and the United States. In 1913, he had solo exhibitions at the Marlborough Gallery, London, and Der Sturm, Berlin; it was during the show in London when he met and befriended British artist

C. R. W. Nevinson Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (13 August 1889 – 7 October 1946) was an English figure and landscape painter, etcher and lithographer, who was one of the most famous war artists of World War I. He is often referred to by his initial ...

, ultimately leading to the latter's decision to become a fellow Futurist. In his autobiography, written many years later, he records that the Futurists were pleased with the response to the exhibition at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, but that influential critics, notably Apollinaire, mocked them for their pretensions, their ignorance of the main currents of modern art and their provincialism. Severini later came to agree with Apollinaire. Severini was less attracted to the subject of the machine than his fellow Futurists and frequently chose the form of the dancer to express Futurist theories of dynamism in art. He was particularly adept at rendering lively urban scenes, for example in ''Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin'' (1912) and ''The Boulevard'' (1913). During the First World War he produced some of the finest Futurist war art, notably his ''Italian Lancers at a Gallop'' (1915) and ''Armoured Train'' (1915). He spent part of the war in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, but returned to Paris by July 1915.

Crystal Cubism and Neo-classicism

In 1916 Severini departed from Futurism and painted several works in a naturalistic style inspired by his interest in early Renaissance art.Cowling, Elizabeth; Mundy, Jennifer (1990).On Classic Ground: Picasso, Léger, de Chirico and the New Classicism 1910–1930. London: Tate Gallery. After the First World War, Severini gradually abandoned the Futurist style and painted in a synthetic Crystal Cubist style until 1920.Christopher Green, ''Cubism and its Enemies, Modern Movements and Reaction in French Art, 1916–1928'', Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1987, pp. 13-47 By 1920 he was applying theories of classical balance based on the

Golden Section In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. Expressed algebraically, for quantities a and b with a > b > 0, where the Greek letter phi ...

to still lifes and figurative subjects from the traditional

commedia dell'arte (; ; ) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as , , and . Charact ...

. He became part of the "

" in the arts in the post-war era. Works such as ''The Two Pulchinellas'' (1922) exemplify Severini's turn toward a more conservative, analytic type of painting, which nonetheless suggests metaphysical overtones. After 1920, Severini divided his time between Paris and Rome. In 1921, he was commissioned by

George Sitwell Sir George Reresby Sitwell, 4th Baronet (27 January 1860 – 9 July 1943) was a British antiquarian writer and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1885 and 1895. Biography Sitwell was born in London, the son of Sir Si ...

to paint murals for Montefugoni castle, which the latter had bought in 1909; the same year, Severini published ''Du cubisme au classicisme: Esthétique du compas et du nombre'', a book summarizing his research into mathematical theories of harmony and proportion.Severini, G: ''From Cubism to Classicism'' (together with Albert Gleizes: '' Painting and its Laws''), translation, introduction and notes by Peter Brooke, London, Francis Boutle publishers, 2001, The murals were completed in 1922. In 1923 and 1925 he took part in the Rome Biennale. He exhibited in Milan with artists of 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 ...

group in 1926 and 1929 and in their

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

exhibition of 1929. From 1928 he began to incorporate elements of Rome's classical landscape in his work. In 1930 he took part in the Venice Biennale, exhibited in the Rome Quadrennials of 1931 and 1935, and in 1935 won the first prize for painting, with an entire room devoted to his work. He contributed a cycle of works to the Paris Exhibition. He explored

and

techniques and executed

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanis ...

s in various media in Switzerland, France, and Italy. During this decade, he taught the Swiss printmaker Lill Tschudi, who had previously studied at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art.

Later life

In the 1940s Severini's style became semi-abstract. In the 1950s he returned to his Futurist subjects: dancers, light and movement. He executed commissions for the church of Saint-Pierre in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

and inaugurated the ''Conségna delle Chiavi'' ("Delivery of the Keys") mosaic. His mosaics were shown at the Cahiers d'Art gallery in Paris and he participated in a conference on the history of mosaic at

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the c ...

. He received commissions to decorate the offices of

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

in Rome and

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. The ai ...

in Paris and took part in the exhibition ''The Futurists, Balla - Severini 1912–1918'' at the Rose Fried Gallery in New York. In Rome he reconstructed his ''Pan Pan Dance'' mosaic, which had been destroyed in the war. He was awarded the ''Premio Nazionale di Pittura'' of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, exhibited at the 9th Rome Quadrennal and was given a solo exhibition at the Accademia di San Luca. Throughout his career he published important theoretical essays and books on art. In 1946 he published an autobiography, ''The Life of a Painter''. Severini died in Paris on 26 February 1966, aged 82. He was buried at Cortona.

Gallery of Works

File:Gino Severini, 1911, La Danseuse Obsedante (The Haunting Dancer, Ruhelose Tanzerin), oil on canvas, 73.5 x 54 cm, private collection.jpg, ''La Danseuse Obsedante (The Haunting Dancer, Ruhelose Tanzerin)'', 1911, oil on canvas, 73.5 x 54 cm, private collection File:Gino Severini, 1911, Le Boulevard, oil on canvas, 63.5 x 91.5 cm, Estorick Collection, London.jpg, ''Le Boulevard'', 1911, oil on canvas, 63.5 x 91.5 cm,

Estorick Collection The Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art is a museum in Canonbury Square in the district of Islington on the northern fringes of central London. It is the United Kingdom's only gallery devoted to modern Italian art and is a registered ch ...

, London File:Gino Severini, 1911, The Pan Pan Dance, original version.jpg, ''The Pan Pan Dance'' (''The Pan Pan Dance''). The original 1911 version was destroyed. This new version he painted in 1959–60, now at

Musée National d'Art Moderne The Musée National d'Art Moderne (; "National Museum of Modern Art") is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou in the 4th arrondissement of the city. In 2021 it ranked 10th in t ...

, Paris File:Gino Severini, 1912, Dynamism of a Dancer, oil on canvas, 60 x 45 cm, Jucker Collection, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.jpg, ''Dynamism of a Dancer'' (''Dinamismo di una danzatrice, Ballerina di chahut''), 1912, oil on canvas, 60 x 45 cm, Jucker Collection,

Pinacoteca di Brera The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of ...

, Milan File:Gino Severini, 1913, La danse de l'ours au Moulin Rouge, oil on canvas, 100 x 73.5 cm, Musée National d'Art Moderne.jpg, ''La danse de l'ours au Moulin Rouge'', 1913, oil on canvas, 100 x 73.5 cm,

, Paris File:Gino Severini, 1913, Tango Argentino.jpg, Gino Severini, 1913, ''Tango Argentino'', work on paper (published on the cover of Der Sturm, Volume 4, Number 192-193, 1 January 1914) File:Gino Severini, photo Léonce Rosenberg, published in Action, Cahiers Individualistes de Philosophie et d’art, Volume 1, Number 2, March 1920.jpg, c.1915-16, dimensions and whereabouts unknown, photo

Léonce Rosenberg Léonce Rosenberg (12 September 1879 in Paris – 31 July 1947 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was an art collector, writer, publisher, and one of the most influential French art dealers of the 20th century. His greatest impact was as a supporter and promote ...

, published in Action: Cahiers Individualistes de Philosophie et d’art, Volume 1, Number 2, March 1920 File:Gino Severini, 1919, Nature Morte.jpg, ''Nature Morte (still life)'', 1919 File:Gino Severini, 1919, Nature morte à la guitare, Private collection.jpg, ''Nature morte à la guitare'', 1919. Private collection File:Gino Severini, 1919, Bohémien Jouant de L'Accordéon (The Accordion Player).jpg, ''Bohémien Jouant de L'Accordéon (The Accordion Player)'', 1919, Museo del Novecento, Milan File:Gino Severini, 1920, Maternité.jpg, ''Maternité'', 1920 File:Gino Severini, La Danse du Pan-Pan, L’autobus, Les Annales politiques et littéraires, 14 March 1920.jpg, Paintings by Gino Severini, 1911, ''La Danse du Pan-Pan'', and Severini, 1913, ''L'autobus''. Published in Les Annales politiques et littéraires, ''Le Paradoxe Cubiste'', 14 March 1920 File:Gino Severini, Albert Gleizes, Luigi Russolo, Les Annales politiques et littéraires, n. 1916, 14 March 1920.jpg, Paintings by Gino Severini, 1911, ''Souvenirs de Voyage'',

, 1912, '' Man on a Balcony, L’Homme au balcon'', Severini, 1912–13, ''Portrait de Mlle Jeanne Paul-Fort'', Luigi Russolo, 1911–12, ''La Révolte''. Les Annales politiques et littéraires, ''Le Paradoxe Cubiste'', n. 1916, 14 March 1920 File:Gino Severini, January 1920, Nature morte.jpg, ''Nature morte'' (Still-life), January 1920 File:Severini San Marco.JPG, ''Mosaic of San Marco'', 1961 - decoration on the front-facade of the Church of St. Mark Cortona, Italy

Public collections

Among the public collections holding works by Gino Severini are: *

Museum de Fundatie Museum de Fundatie () is a museum for the visual arts in Zwolle, Netherlands. Museum de Fundatie forms part of the Hannema-de Stuers Foundation, to which Kasteel het Nijenhuis in Heino also belongs. Museum de Fundatie possesses a collection of v ...

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is on ...

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

* Guggenheim Museum, New York *

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

References

Bibliography

External links

Biography of Severini in the Guide to Cortona

MoMA collection, retrieved April 7, 2008

* ttp://cortonamia.com/en/eating/gino-severini/ All about the Home Town of Gino Severini
The Victor Batte-Lay Trust Permanent Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Severini, Gino Italian Futurist painters Cubist artists Modern painters 1883 births 1966 deaths Divisionist painters Italian male painters Painters of the Return to Order 20th-century Italian painters People of Montmartre 20th-century Italian male artists