Jessie Boswell (March 10, 1881 – September 22, 1956) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

painter, active mainly in her adoptive

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, known as being one of the painters of the ''Gruppo dei Sei Pittori'' (1929–1931) in that city.

Biography

She was born in

Leeds, England 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 ...

, but trained in painting under

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 ...

and design under Mario Micheletti in

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 ...

. She is said to have moved to study music in Italy starting in 1906, joining her sister Geltrude who had married the prominent banker, Gaudenzio Sella. By 1912, she had a series of designs completed in

Biella Biella (; pms, Biela; la, Bugella) is a city and ''comune'' in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, the capital of the province of the same name, with a population of 44,324 as of 31 December 2017. It is located about northeast of Turin an ...

. In 1916–1918, she began working for the Casa Gualino, as a designer until the 1940s. She is described as being a ''dama di compagnia'' (personal assistant/chief of staff) at Casa Gualino from 1913 to 1928. She lived with the family at the Castello di

Cereseto Cereseto is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont. Location Cereseto is about east of Turin and about northwest of Alessandria, on the trunk road linking Asti to Casale Monferrato. It bord ...

and was close to Riccardo's wife, Cesarina Gualino.

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 ...

, a rich industrialist, was also a patron of the arts, including Casorati, and later of the ''Gruppo dei Sei'' until his financial collapse starting in 1929. She exhibited at the Venice Biennali from 1924 to 1930. In 1929–1931, she displayed her works along with a group dubbed the ''

Gruppo dei Sei 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 in Turin in the late 1920s. They exhibited together for three years starting in 1929. Although each artist ha ...

'', including

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, ...

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and

Enrico Paulucci Enrico Paulucci or Paulucci delle Roncole (1901–1999) was an Italian painter and scenic designer. He was one of the founding members of the Gruppo dei Sei. Biography Born in Genoa in 1901, Enrico Paulucci moved to Turin in 1911, where he gra ...

. Boswell's work shows a strong influence of

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 ...

and the simplified compositions 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 ...

. The group shared post-impressionist and yet expressionist styles of painting; Jessie's subjects included landscapes, cityscapes, marine scenes, portraits, and still lifes. Boswell's patron was confined by the Mussolini government for years. Jessie, however, became an Italian citizen in 1936 and spent the second world war in the country. She had a personal exhibition in Biella in 1944. In 1948, she retired to a nursing home in

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 ...

, where she would die.Gianfranco Schialvino notes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boswell, Jessie 1881 births 1956 deaths Artists from Leeds 20th-century Italian painters Painters from Piedmont English emigrants to Italy