Giuseppe Amisani

Giuseppe Amisani

Giuseppe Amisani, Self Portrait, 1900
Born Giuseppe Amisani
12 July 1881[1]
Mede Lomellina, Lombardy, Italy
Died 8 June 1941[2]
Portofino, Liguria, Italy
Nationality Italian
Education Brera Academy, Milan
Known for paintings on cardboard
Movement Portrait
Awards
  • Mylius Prize, 1908
  • Fumagalli Award, 1912
  • Award of the city of Florence, 1922
Giuseppe Amisani, the model, 1910 ca.

Giuseppe Amisani (7 December 1881 – 8 September 1941) was an Italian portrait painter of the Belle Époque.

Life

Amisani was born on 7 December 1881 in Piazza Mercato (now Piazza Amisani) in the comune of Mede di Lomellina, near Pavia in Lombardy, northern Italy. He studied at the technical institute, where he failed the technical drawing course;[3] he then studied at the Accademia di Brera in Milan under Cesare Tallone and Vespasiano Bignami.[4] He won the Mylius prize of the Academy for his painting l'Eroe ("the hero") in 1908,[1] and in 1911 won the Fumagalli prize for figure-painting with his portrait of Lyda Borelli.[5]:208 From then on he concentrated almost exclusively on portrait-painting;[4] his landscapes of the Italian Alps, of Rhodes and of Tunisia also attracted interest.[1][6]

Although almost entirely forgotten today, Amisani was internationally famous in his time. He spent several years in Argentina and Brasil,[3] and travelled also to England, France, North Africa and to the United States.

In 1924, at the peak of his career, he was invited to Egypt to execute decorations at Ras al-Tin, the royal palace of Fuad I of Egypt. While there he painted a portrait of Farouk, then a small child.[3] In 1926 Amisani was commissioned by the publishers of L'Illustrazione Italiana to paint landscapes in Rhodes. In the following year he exhibited North African landscapes in London.[3]

Amisani died in Portofino on 8 September 1941.[2]

Reception

Amisani was an important figure in his lifetime, although his name is not included in the principal works of reference in the twenty-first century.[3][7] He was a close contemporary of Umberto Boccioni and of Pablo Picasso, but completely ignored currents such as Futurism and Cubism which changed the face of fine art in the twentieth century, preferring to satisfy the tastes of his clients, who were the noble, rich and the famous of his time.[3] His reputation was for elegance and for the fresh colours of his palette.[1] A retrospective exhibition of his work at the Castello Sforzesco of Vigevano in the province of Pavia in 2008 was the first dedicated to him in fifty years.[8]

Museum

The museums with works by Giuseppe Amisani include:

Works

Many of Amisani's portraits are of women. They include:

Giuseppe Amisani, Ritratto di donna
Giuseppe Amisani, Portrait of Lyda Borelli, 1910 ca.

Exhibitions

Amisani participated in exhibitions in London, United States, Milan, Rome, Venice, Buenos Aires, Lima, Sao Paolo and Cairo. They include:

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Giorgio Nicodemi (1929) AMISANI, Giuseppe (in Italian). Enciclopedia Italiana. Roma: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana. Accessed February 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 [s.n.] (1948) AMISANI, Giuseppe (in Italian). Enciclopedia Italiana - II Appendice. Roma: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana. Accessed February 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Michele Tavola (11 October 2008). Tutti in posa da Amisani il pittore dei re e dei vip (in Italian). La Repubblica. Accessed February 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Biografie: Giuseppe Amisani (in Italian). Comune di Mede. Archived 20 February 2015.
  5. ↑ Francesca Cagianelli, Dario Matteoni (eds.) (2008). La Belle Époque: arte in Italia, 1880-1915 (catalogue of an exhibition held at the Palazzo Roverella, Rovigo, 10 February – 13 July 2008; in Italian). Cinisello Balsamo, Milano: Silvana. ISBN 9788836610303.
  6. ↑ Chiara Gatti, Leo Lecci (2008). Giuseppe Amisani, il pittore dei re (catalogue of an exhibition held at the Castello Sforzesco, Vigevano (PV), 27 September – 14 December 2008; in Italian). Milano: Skira. ISBN 9788861309418.
  7. ↑ Hai cercato: Amisani, Giuseppe (search result, in Italian). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Roma: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana. Accessed February 2015.
  8. ↑ Arte: Giuseppe Amisani (1879 - 1941). Il pittore dei re (in Italian). Archimagazine. Accessed February 2015.
  9. ↑ "Autoritratto di Giuseppe Amisani", oil on cardboard, 118 x 101, museum number: N. Inv.: 9237
  10. ↑ Il Novocento a Palazzo Isimbardi: nelle collezioni della Provincia di Milano, Raffaele De Grada, Palazzo Isimbardi (Milan, Italy), Vita Firenza, Fabbri ed. 1988, opera "Marco Praga"
  11. ↑ "Le Telette", Italian government catalogue museum number: SIRBeC scheda AFRLIMM - IMM-3a110-0000308
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ Mario Quesada, Museo d'arte italiana di Lima, Marsilio, 1994
  14. ↑ "Il cappello nero", museum catalogue number 1860
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 La Provincia, 4 marzo 2011
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Polo Museale Fiorentino, Centro documentazione, Ufficio Ricerche
  17. ↑ Biennale di Venezia, volume 12, Arno Press, 1971
  18. ↑ Corriere della Sera, 25 novembre 2004
  19. ↑ Repubblica, 27 settembre 2008

Further reading