A closer look
Massimo Quaglino: at a glance
Massimo Quaglino (Refrancore, 15 June 1899 – Turin, 7 July 1982) was an Italian painter and sculptor.
Biography
Training and beginnings · The affirmation · The 1930s and fortyExplore this chapter
Training and beginnings
Born in Refrancore, in province of Asti, by Pietro, saddler, and by Albina Roberto. Information regarding his childhood is scant, his father Pietro also held the position of mayor of the town for a certain period.
In 1904 Massimo's family, which included three other brothers (Teresina, Luisa and Mario), moved to Turin and in 1910 he attended the technical school Plana, where he became friends with Giuseppe Pacotto, better known later as Pinin Pacòt, one of the greatest Piedmontese dialect poets.[1]
The artistic formation of Quaglino was self-taught, thanks to the direct influences of designers Giuseppe Porcheddu and Valerio Jahier.
In 1914 he published his first drawing on the magazine The Whistle, collaborating on which he made friends with Goliath who brought him to the humorous weekly Number.
During the First World War, in 1917, Quaglino collaborated with the magazine The trench, illustrating the various aspects of military life.
The affirmation
At the end of the war, Quaglino developed his work as an illustrator working for the magazine for boys Golden Heart, directed by Francesca and Onorato Castellino.
In 1923 he participated in the XXV exhibition of the Amici dell'Arte Society and in 1926 exhibited four paintings at the Turin Exhibition of the Views, organized by Antonio Fontanesi.
In 1926 and 1927, in collaboration with Giulio Boetto, he prepared for the seventh centenary of St. Francis' death a large diorama, consisting of 12 scenic temperas representing episodes of the life of the patron saint of Italy.
From 1927 onwards he participated almost annually in the exhibition of the Società Promotrice delle Belle Arti, becoming one of his fixed appointments.
In 1929 he participated in the exhibition of Lenci ceramics at the Pesaro gallery in Milan.
The 1930s and forty
Quaglino, in addition to the increasingly dense participations in pictorial exhibitions in Italy, developed the activity of decorator and frescoer. Already in the 1920s he frescoed and decorated the Pavilion of Hunting and Fishing at the Turin Exhibition for the 4th centenary of the birth of Emanuele Filiberto I of Savoy (1528).
In 1930 he frescoed, in collaboration with Deabate, the room called "Two Sergeants" at the Villa Reale di Monza on the occasion of the IV International Exhibition of Decorative Art. Also in the same year the artist frescoed the rooms of Villa Ponti in Arona and in 1936, the halls of Palazzo Riccardi then seat of Turin.
In 1938 he frescoed the afterwork of course King Umberto I and at the end of the 1930s he completed the decorations of the apse of the chapel of Saint Anise in Villar Perosa, depicting scenes of Jesus' life.
Between 1930 and 1948 he participated uninterruptedly at the Venice Biennale and in 1935, along with Deabate, he treated costumes and scenography of the film Don Bosco by Alessandrini.
In 1942 Quaglino was recalled to arms, but was employed in a special body made up of artists and writers with the task of illustrating and telling the facts of war. The works were exhibited in 1942 at the XXIII Biennale of Venice and in 1943 at the Galleria di Roma on the occasion of the II Exhibition of Marine Art.
At the end of the war, the artist intensified advertising collaboration with FIAT and in 1949 participated in the gatherings of "18 painters of Bardonecchia", who exhibited mountain landscapes in different exhibitions, around Italy.
The Fifties, Sixty and Seventy
Quaglino, between 1952 and 1959, collaborated with some artists including Casorati, Paulucci, Valinotti, Garino and Martina in the figurative transposition of the operas by Guido Gozzano and illustrated works for the dam of Beauregard.
In 1955 he was awarded the Chair of Decoration at the Accademia Albertina in Turin, which held until 1969.
In the 1960s, exhibitions intensified in Italy and Quaglino also began a collaboration with the newspaper Print Sera of Turin.
In 1969 he published a series of lithographs for Promises married, which he exhibited in various exhibitions in (Florence, 1970), (Milan, 1970), (Lecco, 1973), to which the lithographs were added for Orlando furioso (Alessandria, 1973), (Fossano, 1973).
Since 1981 the works of Quaglino have been preserved in the Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Torino.
He died in Turin on July 7, 1982, in via Sforzesca.
The pictorial themes
Massimo Quaglino is considered unanimous by critics as a painter from Piedmont. It belongs to that group of Piedmontese artists established between the two...Explore this chapter
Massimo Quaglino is considered unanimous by critics as a painter from Piedmont.[2] It belongs to that group of Piedmontese artists established between the two wars, with modest artistic innovations that were influenced by the group of Turin's Six. The critic Emilio Zanzi placed him among the group of "Torinesi di Torino" together with Giulio Da Milano, Teonesto Deabate, Giulio Boetto and Domenico Valinotti.
The themes of Quaglino, which take shape mainly at the end of the 1930s, are those of an intimate view of the everyday Easter reality, mainly of Refrancore and the landscapes of the Monferrato.
The technique used by the artist is very close to that "key" of Lombard painters of the period: it lightens and clears its palette giving a light and bright painted image very similar to the painting of his friend Pio Semeghini.
In the 1950s Quaglino was greatly influenced by French painter Pierre Bonnard, moving his painting into a post-impressionistic vision.
Since the 1970s, themes of the painter Refrancorese treat the representation of mannequins and masks placed in environments often in disorder with cabinets or drawers, often inspired by the painting of Ensor, but with a more ironic and playful vein. Painting also abandons past transparencies becoming more material and plastic.
Exhibitions
The main exhibitions of Massimo Quaglino:Explore this chapter
The main exhibitions of Massimo Quaglino:
- Exhibition of the Society Friends of Art, Turin, 1923, 1927, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1938
- Società di Belle Arti Antonio Fontanesi, Turin, 1924
- National exhibition for the 4th centenary of the birth of Emanuele Filiberto, X della Vittoria, Caccia and Fishing Pavilion And Wine House Pavilion, Turin, 1928
- Exhibition of the Società Promotrice delle Belle Arti,Regional Union, Turin, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1942, 1947, 1949, 1951, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978,
- Exhibition of ceramics Lenci, Galleria Pesaro, Milan, 1930
- IV International Triennial Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, Monza, 1930
- Exhibition International Biennial, Venice, 1930, 1934, 1936, 1942, 1948
- Galleria Guglielmi, Turin, 1930-1931
- sculptural, architectural and pictorial representation, Sanctuary of Oropa, 1932
- Provincial Exhibition of Alessandria, 1932
- Galleria Ronco, Biella 1933
- Casale Monferrato, 1933
- National Exhibition of Fine Arts, Florence, 1933
- Art and Craftsmanship Exhibition, Pinerolo 1933
- National Art Quadrennial, Rome 1935, 1965
- Asti, 1936, 1939
- Staff, Salone de "La Stampa", Turin 1936
- Akademie der Künste, Berlin 1937
- Casa degli Artisti, Milan 1940
- II Marine Art Exhibition, Rome Gallery 1943
- Galleria Garlanda, Biella 1943
- Galleria "Il Grifo", Torino 1946
- National award exhibition Pelizza da Volpedo, Institute of Education, Antiquities and Art, Tortona 1946
- Exhibition of the 18 painters of Bardonecchia, Annunciata gallery, Milan 1949
- Exhibition of the 18 painters of Bardonecchia, Fogliato gallery, Turin 1949
- Pasini Award, White Horse room, Cavoretto 1949
- Exhibition of the 18 painters of Bardonecchia, Rotta gallery, Genoa 1949
- Exhibition of the 18 painters of Bardonecchia, Gazzetta del Popolo gallery, Turin 1949
- Competition "The Golden Shoe", Palazzo delle Esposizioni Torino 1950
- Galleria Aureliana, Rome 1954
- III Prize for Painting IT, Journey to Italy with the patronage of the Venice Biennale, Venice 1955
- Walks with Guido, Agliè 1955
- Bussa Award, Civic Museum, Asti 1956
- Ten Piedmontese painters on the Amalfi Coast, Agropoli, Palinuro, "Medea" gallery, Naples 1959
- XXII National Art Biennial, Palazzo della Promotrice, Milan 1962
- Alfieri Award, Asti 1962
- Holidays in Spain. Drawings and watercolors by Massimo Quaglino, "Fogliato" gallery, Turin 1963
- Drawings for "The Married Promises, "Torre" gallery, Turin 1966
- Staff, "Caldarese" Gallery, Bologna 1969
- The International Graphics Biennale: the graphics between the two wars, 1918-1939, drawings for the Married Promits, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence 1970
- Staff, "La Giostra" gallery, Asti 1971, 1979
- X National Prize city of Imperia, Civic Art Gallery, Imperia 1971
- Lithographies for L'Orlado Furioso, Circolo de "La Stampa", Turin 1972
- Anthological exhibition, Palazzo Chiablese, Turin 1980
- Materials Italian Art 1920-1940, Gallery of Modern Art Turin 1981
- Lenci ceramics. Secessionist artists. Brera International Center, Milan 1983
Notes
Explore this chapter
- ^ AA.VV.,Massimo Quaglino, Bio-Bibliography (edited by Stefania Bison), Ed. Landau, May 2000, pp. 195
- ^ Francesco Poli, Massimo Quaglino painter Piedmontese par excellence, in: Francesco Poli, Pino Mantovani, Rolando Bellini, Stefania Bison, Massimo Quaglino, Regione Piemonte, Edizioni Landau, Turin, 2000, p. 11
Bibliography
Explore this chapter
- Francesco Poli, Pino Mantovani, Rolando Bellini, Stefania Bison, Massimo Quaglino, Regione Piemonte, Edizioni Landau, Turin 2000. ISBN 88-7180-322-1
Continue your journey