Serge Brignoni
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Serge Brignoni (12 October 1903 – 6 January 2002) was a Swiss
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: Theoretical ...
painter and
sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
. His collection of ethnic art is now housed in the Museo delle Culture in
Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...
.


Early life and education

Brignoni was born in October 1903 in the village San Simone near
Chiasso Chiasso (; lmo, Ciass ) is a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. As the southernmost of Switzerland's municipalities, Chiasso is on the border with Italy, in front of Ponte Chiasso (a frazione of Co ...
to Romeo Brignoni and Cesira Muschetti. In 1907 he and his parents moved to Bern. At the age of fifteen, his interest into art developed after his father gave him some art magazines. Following Brignoni attempted to copy some of the works he saw. From 1919 onwards, he attended the ''School of Arts and Crafts'' in Bern, where he mainly studied art with Victor Surbek. In 1921, the family settled to Bellinzona where his father became the deputy director of the
Swiss Post Swiss Post (french: La Poste suisse, it, La Posta Svizzera, german: Die Schweizerische Post, rm, La Posta Svizra) is the national postal service of Switzerland. A public company owned by the Swiss Confederation, it is the country's second lar ...
. Since he made trips to the nearby Milano in Italy, to study the buildings and museums of the city. He chose not to attend the art academy of Milano as he deemed it too conservative. He then continued his studies at the
Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...
. In Berlin he visited the museums and got to know the German expressionism and
Russian constructivism Constructivism is an early twentieth-century art movement founded in 1915 by Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Rodchenko. Abstract and austere, constructivist art aimed to reflect modern industrial society and urban space. The movement rejected deco ...
. In 1923 he went to study in Paris at the ''
Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Acadà ...
'', where he met Alberto Giacometti, Picasso, and other avant-gardists, and where he was first exposed to African art.


Professional career

He worked at the
Atelier 17 Atelier 17 was an art school and studio that was influential in the teaching and promotion of printmaking in the 20th century. Originally located in Paris, the studio relocated to New York during the years surrounding World War II. It moved back t ...
studio. He began collecting these artworks in 1926 and expanded the scope of his collecting to Melanesian and Indonesian art; he also supported himself in part through sales of these works. During this period he was also active in his own works, which were
Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
and
Primitivist Primitivism is a mode of aesthetic idealization that either emulates or aspires to recreate a "primitive" experience. It is also defined as a philosophical doctrine that considers "primitive" peoples as nobler than civilized peoples and was an o ...
in character. He joined '' Gruppe 33'', an anti-Fascist association of artists based in
Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
, and was represented in the 1935 and 1936 Surrealist exhibits in Copenhagen. He married Chilean painter Graciela Aranis (1906-1996) in 1935. In 1940 he was forced to return to Switzerland due to
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 opposing ...
, leaving his own work and his collection behind. Much of the former was lost to theft or destroyed, but the collection was held up by French customs, and was preserved intact, and at the end of the war he was able to retrieve it. He resumed his collecting after the war, eventually donating the collection to the city of Lugano in several phases beginning in 1985. He continued to work in a variety of media including sculpture, lithography, collage and painting; he also taught at the
Kunstgewerbeschule A Kunstgewerbeschule (English: ''School of Arts and Crafts'' or S''chool of Applied Arts'') was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for thes ...
in
Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...
. He painted several murals, including one at the Government Headquarters in
Bellinzona Bellinzona ( , , Ticinese ; french: Bellinzone ; german: Bellenz ; rm, Blizuna )is a municipality, a historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its three castles (Castelgrande, Montebell ...
(1958) and another in the television headquarters in Comano (1975). His works were widely exhibited, including a 1997 retrospective show at the
Kunstmuseum Bern The Museum of Fine Arts Bern (German: ''Kunstmuseum Bern''), established in 1879 in Bern, is the museum of fine arts of the de facto capital of Switzerland. Its holdings run from the Middle Ages to the present. It houses works by Paul Klee, Pab ...
. He died in that city in 2002, survived by his second wife Marlyse Haller.


References

:''This article was initially translated from the German Wikipedia.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Brignoni, Serge 20th-century Swiss painters Swiss male painters Swiss surrealist artists 1903 births 2002 deaths Artists from Bern Atelier 17 alumni 20th-century Swiss male artists