Luigi Pericle Giovannetti
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Luigi Pericle Giovannetti (Basel, 22 June 1916 - Ascona, 19 August 2001), also known as Luigi Pericle, was a Swiss painter and illustrator of Italian origin.


Biography

Born in Basel in 1916, to an Italian father, Pietro Giovannetti, from
Monterubbiano Monterubbiano is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Fermo, in the Marche region of Italy. It is on a hill from the Adriatic Sea. History In pre-historic times the area was inhabited by the Piceni (9th-3rd centuries BC). After the Roman co ...
– in the
Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...
region – and a mother of French origin, Eugenie Rosé, Luigi Pericle Giovannetti attended an art academy at the age of sixteen, but soon he left and became self-taught. During his youth, he studied the East Asian, ancient Egyptian and Greek philosophies on his own.Catalogue, Luigi Pericle Beyond the visible, edited by Chiara Gatti – Venice, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, 11 May - 24 November 2019, SilvanaEditoriale, Milan. Printed by Grafiche Aurora, Verona, 2019 In 1947 he married the
Grisons The Grisons () or Graubünden,Names include: *german: (Kanton) Graubünden ; * Romansh: ** rm, label= Sursilvan, (Cantun) Grischun ** rm, label=Vallader, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label= Puter, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label=Surmiran, (Cant ...
painter Orsolina Klainguti. In the 1950s, Giovannetti and his wife moved to
Ascona 300px, Ascona Ascona ( lmo, label= Ticinese, Scona ) is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It is located on the shore of Lake Maggiore. The town is a popular tourist destination and holds the yea ...
where they led a very secluded life and resided until their death. In his handwritten autobiography entitled ''Bis ans Ende der Zeiten'' (Until the end of time) completed in 1994 but never published, Giovannetti defines the years 1958 to 1965 as "''Jahre des Umbruchs''" ("the years of radical change"). The house where Pericle lived until the end of his days was called "Casa San Tomaso". After the artist's death in 2001, it had been closed down for sixteen years as he had no heirs. In December 2016, the property was purchased by his neighbours, and that's when the existence of paintings and inks, as well as unpublished documents was discovered.


Max the Marmot and the cartoon production

Giovannetti started to work as a draughtsman producing materials for the British satirical magazine ''
Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...
''. There he published different comic book characters’ stories. In 1951, his first book ''Das betrunkene Eichhorn'', signed as Pericle Giovannetti, was published by the Vineta Verlag publishing house. In 1952, he produced an illustrated children's book for the Swiss Union of Free Trade Unions as a Christmas gift. In 1953, Giovannetti created Max the Marmot, the main character of the homonymous comic strips with no texts, for all ages, which brought him international fame: the cartoon character soon became popular, especially in Europe, the United States and Japan. The book ''Max'' was reprinted in 25 editions between 1954 and 2004, the reprints of Giovannetti's various works continued over the years and until 2015, when Creative Media Partners published ''Max Presents Portraits, Sketches, Vignettes, and Pictorial Memoranda of Men, Women, and Other Animals''. In 1958 Giovannetti wrote, in collaboration with
Clive King David Clive King (28 April 1924 – 10 July 2018) was an English author best known for his children's book ''Stig of the Dump'' (1963). He served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in the last years of the Second World War and then worked for t ...
, the volume Hamid of Aleppo and he also produced the illustrations. His work as an illustrator was released by the New York-based publisher
Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...
and was also published in popular newspapers and magazines such as ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', ''
New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...
'', and ''Punch''. At that time, he signed his work as Giovannetti or Pericle Giovannetti. The books with the adventures of Max, and of other characters as well, were reprinted several times in Germany, France and the United Kingdom.


Luigi Pericle

In 1959 Giovannetti, signing himself Luigi Pericle, began a collaboration with Peter G. Staechelin, an art collector from Basel, who acquired several of the artist's works for his own collection. In 1962, Giovannetti met Martin Summers, gallery owner and curator at the Arthur Tooth & Sons Gallery in London, where the painter held two solo exhibitions, in 1962 and 1965, and two group exhibitions – Colour, Form and Texture and Contrasts in Taste II – both in 1964. In 1963, some works were also exhibited in Ascona at the Castelnuovo Art Gallery. Giovannetti met Hans Hess, museologist and curator of the
York Art Gallery York Art Gallery is a public art gallery in York, England, with a collection of paintings from 14th-century to contemporary, prints, watercolours, drawings, and ceramics. It closed for major redevelopment in 2013, reopening in summer of 2015. T ...
. In 1965, Hess organized an itinerant solo exhibition, displaying a selection of 50 works, in several British museums, including: York, Newcastle, Hull, Bristol, Cardiff and Leicester. In January 1965, Herbert Read – art critic, co-founder of the Institute of Contemporary Art in London and artistic consultant for
Peggy Guggenheim Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim ( ; August 26, 1898 – December 23, 1979) was an American art collector, bohemian and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with t ...
– visited Pericle's studio in Ascona. Later, he curated the second solo exhibition of Luigi Pericle's work in London and wrote the preface to the catalogue that would afterwards be included in the book ''Luigi Pericle: dipinti e disegni'' (Luigi Pericle: paintings and drawings). From the 1960s to the 1980s, the artist produced a series of works on canvas and masonite, inks and drawings. During this period, the ''Luigi Pericle: dipinti e disegni'' (Luigi Pericle, paintings and drawings) catalogue was printed: the project of a monograph devoted to the artist was initiated in collaboration with Staechelin and, after the latter's death, was completed with his son, Ruedi Staechelin. The paintings by Luigi Pericle are now part of the Municipal Collection of Ascona, the permanent collection of the
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is a large museum and art gallery in Bristol, England. The museum is situated in Clifton, about from the city centre. As part of Bristol Culture it is run by the Bristol City Council with no entrance fee. It holds ...
in Bristol and the permanent collection of the
York Art Gallery York Art Gallery is a public art gallery in York, England, with a collection of paintings from 14th-century to contemporary, prints, watercolours, drawings, and ceramics. It closed for major redevelopment in 2013, reopening in summer of 2015. T ...
Museum in
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
. Since the end of 2018, further research carried out by the Luigi Pericle Archive resulted in the rediscovery of the artist and the exhibition that took place at the
Fondazione Querini Stampalia The Fondazione Querini Stampalia is a cultural institution in Venice, Italy, founded in 1869 at the behest of the last descendant of the Venetian Querini Stampalia family, Conte Giovanni Querini (Count John Querini). Architect Carlo Scarpa design ...
(11 May–24 November 2019) accompanied by the publication of the catalogue ''Luigi Pericle. Beyond the visible''.


Comic books and illustrated books

*(DE) ''Aus meiner Menagerie'' Nebelspalter-Verlag, 1951 *''L'unione fa la forza : strenna natalizia per i piccini'', Unione Svizzera dei sindacati liberi, 1952 *(DE) ''Das betrunkene Eichhorn'', Vineta-Verl, 1951 *(EN) ''Max'', MacMillan Company, 1954 **(DE) ''Max,'' Zurigo, Sanssouci, 1954 ***''Max,'' Baldini e Castoldi, 1959 ****(EN) ''Max'', Atheneum, 1977, *****(FR) ''Max'', Ecole des loisirs, 2003, *(EN) ''Max Presents: Portraits, Sketches, Vignettes and Pictorial Memoranda of Men, Women and Other Animals; Conceived by Max, Supervised by Max, Selected by Max, Arranged and Edited by Max, Commentary by Max'', Macmillan (N.Y.), 1956 **(EN) ''Max Presents Portraits, Sketches, Vignettes, and Pictorial Memoranda of Men, Women, and Other Animals'', HardPress Publishing, 2013, ***(EN) ''Max Presents Portraits, Sketches, Vignettes, and Pictorial Memoranda of Men, Women, and Other Animals'', Creative Media Partners, LLC, 8 August 2015, . *(EN) ''Beware of the Dog'', Macmillan, 1958. *(EN) Clive King e Giovannetti, ''Hamid of Aleppo,'' MacMillan Company, 1958 *(EN) ''Nothing But Max'', MacMillan Company, 1959 *(EN) Birds without words, MacMillan Company, 1961 *(EN) ''The Penguin Max'', Penguin, 1962 *(DE) ''Jawassinüdsäged!'' Nebelspalter-Verlag, 1971 *(DE) ''Max: d. Murmeltier, über d. d. Welt schmunzelt'', Heyne, 1973, **''Max - Das Murmeltie''r, 1981 *(DE) ''111 neue Kaminfeuergeschichten'', Nebelspalter-Verlag, 1975 *(DE) ''Pablo,'' Nebelspalter-Verlag, 1976 *(DE) ''Ja - wer chunt dänn daa?'' Nebelspalter-Verlag, 1976 *(DE) ''Max : alle Abenteuer des Murmeltiers, über das die Welt schmunzelt'', Heyne, 1993


References


Bibliography

Luigi Pericle, ''Luigi Pericle: dipinti e disegni'', Roma, Romagraf, 1979. Distributed by Istituto Geografico de Agostini (Catalogue) Chiara Gatti, ''Luigi Pericle: Beyond the visible'', Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana Editoriale 2019 ()


External links


Official website: Luigi Pericle Archive
at ''Luigipericle.com''
Municipal Museum of Modern Art in Ascona


''lambiek.net''
Rescued from Oblivion: The Works of Luigi Pericle
''tlmagazine.com''
Luigi Pericle: A Restoration
''aestheticamagazine.com''
Luigi Pericle: Beyond the visible - Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venezia 2019
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giovannetti, Luigi Pericle 1916 births 2001 deaths Swiss cartoonists Swiss comics artists Swiss painters Swiss satirists Artists from Basel-Stadt