Summary of Gino Severini
Severini was one of the most progressive of all the twentieth-century Italian artists. An early and important figure within the Futurist movement, the Paris-based Severini produced unique works that, through their emphasis on urban Parisian scenes (rather than machines), broadened the thematic possibilities for the movement. Having exhausted his commitment to Futurism, and to the French avant-gardes' penchant for pictorial deconstruction, he shifted his interest to Neo-Classicism; a move that saw him aligned with the interwar "Return to Order" movement. His modernist credentials were tested somewhat through his associations with the Fascist leader Benito Mussolini's "Third Rome" project (the dream of establishing a New Roman Empire), for which he provided murals and mosaics for architectural structures inspired by imperial Rome. In later years, however, Severini was "reborn" through his new commitment to the Catholic faith which saw the artist produce religious mosaics so finely skilled they earned him the title: "Father of Modern Mosaics". Complementing his considerable achievements as a painter and mosaicist, Severini proved an accomplished polemicist, publishing theoretical essays and books on the art of painting throughout his long career.
Accomplishments
- Severini's Futurists works were distinguished in the way they privileged the lyrical and rhythmical joys of urban life. Allowing for the influences of Divisionism, Fauvism, and Cubism to inform his work, Severini used contrasts in color and shape with the primary goal of heightening the decorative and kinetic quality of his work. In this way he facilitated a truly cross-cultural Futurism to emerge.
- Leaving behind the Parisian nightclub scene (to which he had become so attached), and disillusioned with the violent and chaotic path trodden by the Italian Futurists, a more reflective Severini turned to his friend Pablo Picasso and the lessons of Synthetic Cubism. By adopting its flattened planes and simplified forms, Severini produced a series of still lifes and landscapes that found beauty in everyday and/or natural subjects.
- Putting to one side any sense of patriotic duty (the Futurist remained steadfast in their goal of maintaining a uniquely Italian culture), and the experimental tendencies of the French avant-garde, Severini joined a pan-European group of artists and intellectuals in his support for the interwar "Return to Order" movement. His Neo-Classical style saw him bring the principles of the Italian Renaissance to modern subjects. Such was his enthusiasm for the Classical movement, and particularly its legacy of pictorial proportion and balance, he published (much to the chagrin of the Cubists) an influential theoretical tome, Du cubism au classicisme (From Cubism to Classicism) in 1921.
- Back in his native Italy, Severini's later career saw him bring renewed interest and credibility to the ancient art of Byzantine mosaics. Having contributed retro-imperial walkways for Mussolini's bloated architectural edifices, he worked under the influence of a new spiritualism (one brough on by personal tragedy) that saw him visualize Christian parables for churches in Italy, Germany, and Switzerland.
Biography of Gino Severini
Severini's declared that one could locate the dynamism of modern life, not so much in the driving pistons of machines, but more in the "beautifully masked and under-dressed women", the "showers of confetti" and the "multicolored streamers" he encountered in the nightclubs of Paris.
