Gino Bonichi (February 25, 1904 – November 9, 1933), known as Scipione, was an Italian painter and writer. He was born in

Macerata Macerata () is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy, the county seat of the province of Macerata in the Marche region. It has a population of about 41,564. History The historical city centre is on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza ...

. In 1909 he moved to Rome, where he later enrolled at the Scuola Libera di Nudo of the

Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma The Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma is a public tertiary academy of art in Rome, Italy. It was founded in the sixteenth century, but the present institution dates from the time of the unification of Italy and the capture of Rome by the Kingdom ...

. He founded with Mario Mafai and

Antonietta Raphael Antonietta Raphaël (1895 – 5 September 1975) was an Italian sculptor and painter of Jewish heritage and Lithuanian birth, who founded the ''Scuola Romana (Roman School)'' movement together with her husband Mario Mafai. She was an artist cha ...

the

Scuola romana Scuola romana or Scuola di via Cavour was a 20th-century art movement defined by a group of painters within Expressionism and active in Rome between 1928 and 1945, and with a second phase in the mid-1950s. Birth of the movement In November 192 ...

, a group of artists active in Rome who were influenced by Expressionism, and opposed the officially approved art of the Fascist period. He exhibited his work for the first time in 1927. At about this time, he also began publishing his poetry and essays. Scipione's interest in art history led him to study the Italian old masters, as well as El Greco and

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...

. Expressionists such as

Chaïm Soutine Chaïm Soutine (13 January 1893 – 9 August 1943) was a Belarusian painter who made a major contribution to the expressionist movement while living and working in Paris. Inspired by classic painting in the European tradition, exemplified by the ...

James Ensor James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor (13 April 1860 – 19 November 1949) was a Belgian painter and printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for most of his life. He was associated with the artistic g ...

and George Grosz influenced the development of his style, which was characterized by mysticism and a personal symbolism. His period of greatest activity was between 1927 and the autumn of 1930; during these years he produced his most important works, such as ''Still-life with a Bowler Hat'' (1929) and ''Still-life with a Feather'' (1929).Lucchesi, "Scipione onichi, Gino, Oxford Art Online. He exhibited in the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

in 1930, and at the first

Rome Quadriennale 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 ...

in 1931. In the last two years of his life, the

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

from which he had suffered for years forced him to abandon painting in favor of drawing.Pinto 2002, p. 165. He died in Arco on November 9, 1933. The Italian painter Claudio Bonichi (born in 1943) is Scipione's nephew.

Works

Notes

References

*Lucchesi, Sylvia. "Scipione onichi, Gino, Oxford Art Online *Pinto, Sandra. 2002. ''A history of Italian art in the 20th century''. Milano: Skira Editore. *Scipione, and Giuseppe Marchiori. 1944. ''Disegni di Scipione''. Bergamo: Istituto italiano d'arti grafiche.
''Scipione(Gino Bonichi)''
Scuola Romana

External links

1904 births 1933 deaths People from Macerata 20th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 20th-century Italian male artists {{Italy-painter-20thC-stub