Luigi Veronesi
Encyclopedia
Luigi Veronesi was an Italian photographer, painter
, scenographer
and film director
.
of Bergamo
(Italy). In 1932 he travelled to Paris and meets Fernand Léger
. His first works were presented in the Gallery Il Milione in Milan
. They were still figurative
. Later, Veronesi started to research in the direction of abstract art
. In 1934 he exhibits xylographic works with the German artist Josef Albers
in the Gallery Il Milione. In the same year he joined the photographic group Abstraction-Création
in Paris, he experimented constructivism
, and adhered to the Bauhaus
method. On 4 March 1935 he participated to the first collective exhibition of abstract art of Italy in the atelier of the painters Felice Casorati
and Enrico Paolucci in Turin
together with the artists Oreste Bogliardi, Cristoforo De Amicis, Ezio D'Errico, Lucio Fontana
, Virginio Ghiringhelli, Osvaldo Licini, Fausto Melotti, Mauro Reggiani and Atanasio Soldati, who signed the Manifest of the first collective exhibition of Italian abstract art. In 1936 Veronesi is the illustrator of a geometry book of Leonardo Sinisgalli and he participates to the triennal of Milan. In that year he also participated to an exhibition of abstract art in the city of Como
(Italy) with the artists Lucio Fontana
, Virginio Ghiringhelli, Osvaldo Licini, Alberto Magnelli
, Fausto Melotti, Enrico Prampolini
, Mario Radice
, Mauro Reggiani, Manlio Rho
and Atanasio Soldati. In 1939 he made a personal exhibition in the Gallerie L'Equipe in Paris.
Veronesi was also active in theatre
and cinema
with nine experimental and abstract films made between 1938 and 1980, seven of which were destroyed during bombing in WWII. He participated to the national exhibition of scenography
in Rome
in 1938. In 1942 he made the scenography of the opera Minnie la candida of Riccardo Malipiero
. From the 1940s he worked as scenographer with Giorgio Strehler
, the founder of the Piccolo Teatro of Milan, in particular in works of Luigi Pirandello
, and later built several sets for the Scala Theater of Milan until the end of the 1980s.
After the Second World War he was the co-founder of the photographic group «La Bussola». He participated to the exhibition Arte astratta arte concreta in the Royal Palace of Milan
(Palazzo Reale) in 1947 and adhered to the Movimento Arte Concreta (M.A.C.) in Milan in 1949. He worked several years as graphic designer
.
From 1963 to 1979 he taught graphic arts at the graduate course of industrial design in Venice and later was professor of colour science at the Brera Academy
(Milan).
In the 1980s the activities of Veronesi were very varied. He participated to the exhibition on Italian abstract art in the framework of the 33rd Biennale di Venezia; he made a personal exhibition in Bolzano in 1980 and another in Pordenone
(Italy
) in 1984; and he was the coauthor, with Giancarlo Pauletto, of a book on the Italian artist Genesio De Gotardo published in 1989.
Luigi Veronesi was a polyvalent and eclectic artist who managed to synthesise the avant-garde
movements of various regions of Europe.
Works about Veronesi:
Works in relation with Veronesi:
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, scenographer
Scenographer
A scenographer develops the appearance of a stage design, a TV or movie set, a gaming environment, a trade fair exhibition design or a museum experience exhibition design. The term originated in theater...
and film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
.
Biography
He started his artistic activity in the 1920s by training as textile designer and by practising photography. He was introduced by Raffaelle Giolli in a group of Italian intellectuals associated with the review Poligono. At the age of 20 he was interested for painting and took lessons with the Neapolitan painter Carmelo Violante, then professor at the Accademia CarraraAccademia Carrara
The Accademia Carrara is an art gallery and an academy of fine arts in Bergamo, Italy.-History:The origins of the art gallery lie with the Count Giacomo Carrara, a wealthy collector and patron of the arts, who left a generous legacy to the city of Bergamo at the end of the 18th century.After the...
of Bergamo
Bergamo
Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...
(Italy). In 1932 he travelled to Paris and meets Fernand Léger
Fernand Léger
Joseph Fernand Henri Léger was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of Cubism which he gradually modified into a more figurative, populist style...
. His first works were presented in the Gallery Il Milione in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
. They were still figurative
Figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork—particularly paintings and sculptures—which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational.-Definition:...
. Later, Veronesi started to research in the direction of abstract art
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
. In 1934 he exhibits xylographic works with the German artist Josef Albers
Josef Albers
Josef Albers was a German-born American artist and educator whose work, both in Europe and in the United States, formed the basis of some of the most influential and far-reaching art education programs of the 20th century....
in the Gallery Il Milione. In the same year he joined the photographic group Abstraction-Création
Abstraction-Création
Abstraction-Création was a loose association of artists formed in Paris in 1931 to counteract the influence of the Surrealist group led by André Breton....
in Paris, he experimented constructivism
Constructivism (art)
Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919, which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th...
, and adhered to the Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
method. On 4 March 1935 he participated to the first collective exhibition of abstract art of Italy in the atelier of the painters Felice Casorati
Felice Casorati
Felice Casorati was an Italian painter, sculptor, and printmaker. The paintings for which he is most noted include figure compositions, portraits and still lifes, which are often distinguished by unusual perspective effects.-Life and work:Casorati was born in Novara and showed an early interest in...
and Enrico Paolucci in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
together with the artists Oreste Bogliardi, Cristoforo De Amicis, Ezio D'Errico, Lucio Fontana
Lucio Fontana
Lucio Fontana was an Italian painter, sculptor and theorist of Argentine birth. He was mostly known as the founder of Spatialism and his ties to Arte Povera.-Early life:...
, Virginio Ghiringhelli, Osvaldo Licini, Fausto Melotti, Mauro Reggiani and Atanasio Soldati, who signed the Manifest of the first collective exhibition of Italian abstract art. In 1936 Veronesi is the illustrator of a geometry book of Leonardo Sinisgalli and he participates to the triennal of Milan. In that year he also participated to an exhibition of abstract art in the city of Como
Como
Como is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy.It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como....
(Italy) with the artists Lucio Fontana
Lucio Fontana
Lucio Fontana was an Italian painter, sculptor and theorist of Argentine birth. He was mostly known as the founder of Spatialism and his ties to Arte Povera.-Early life:...
, Virginio Ghiringhelli, Osvaldo Licini, Alberto Magnelli
Alberto Magnelli
Alberto Magnelli was an Italian modern painter who was a significant figure in the post war Concrete art movement.- Biography :...
, Fausto Melotti, Enrico Prampolini
Enrico Prampolini
Enrico Prampolini was an Italian Futurist painter, sculptor and scenographer. He assisted in the design of the Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution and was active in Aeropainting....
, Mario Radice
Mario Radice
Mario Radice was an Italian painter born in Como. He is considered to be an important Italian abstract artist.-Life and work:...
, Mauro Reggiani, Manlio Rho
Manlio Rho
Manlio Rho was a painter born in Como, Italy. He is considered one of the most important abstract artists in Italy.-Life and work:...
and Atanasio Soldati. In 1939 he made a personal exhibition in the Gallerie L'Equipe in Paris.
Veronesi was also active in theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
with nine experimental and abstract films made between 1938 and 1980, seven of which were destroyed during bombing in WWII. He participated to the national exhibition of scenography
Scenography
-Usage:Whilst also aligned with the professional practice of the scenographer, it is important to distinguish the individual elements that comprise the 'design' of a performance event from the term 'scenography' which is as an artistic perspective concerning the visual, experiential and spatial...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 1938. In 1942 he made the scenography of the opera Minnie la candida of Riccardo Malipiero
Riccardo Malipiero
Riccardo Malipiero was an Italian composer, pianist, and music educator. He was awarded the gold medal by the city of Milan in 1977 and by the city of Varese in 1984....
. From the 1940s he worked as scenographer with Giorgio Strehler
Giorgio Strehler
Giorgio Strehler was an Italian opera and theatre director.-Biography:Strehler was born in Barcola, Trieste to an Austrian father and a Franco-Slovene mother; he grew up speaking Italian but spoke French well and his German was passable. He became suddenly fatherless at the age of three, his...
, the founder of the Piccolo Teatro of Milan, in particular in works of Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
, and later built several sets for the Scala Theater of Milan until the end of the 1980s.
After the Second World War he was the co-founder of the photographic group «La Bussola». He participated to the exhibition Arte astratta arte concreta in the Royal Palace of Milan
Royal Palace of Milan
The Royal Palace of Milan was the seat of government of the Italian city of Milan for many centuries, but today is an important cultural centre, home to expositions and exhibitions....
(Palazzo Reale) in 1947 and adhered to the Movimento Arte Concreta (M.A.C.) in Milan in 1949. He worked several years as graphic designer
Graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...
.
From 1963 to 1979 he taught graphic arts at the graduate course of industrial design in Venice and later was professor of colour science at the Brera Academy
Brera Academy
The Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, also known as Brera Academy is a public academic institution located in Milan, Italy. It was founded in 1776 by HIM Maria Theresa of Austria.- Overview :...
(Milan).
In the 1980s the activities of Veronesi were very varied. He participated to the exhibition on Italian abstract art in the framework of the 33rd Biennale di Venezia; he made a personal exhibition in Bolzano in 1980 and another in Pordenone
Pordenone
Pordenone is a comune of Pordenone province of northeast Italy in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region.The name comes from the Latin "Portus Naonis" meaning the port on the river Noncello - History :...
(Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
) in 1984; and he was the coauthor, with Giancarlo Pauletto, of a book on the Italian artist Genesio De Gotardo published in 1989.
Luigi Veronesi was a polyvalent and eclectic artist who managed to synthesise the avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
movements of various regions of Europe.
Retrospective exhibitions
- Royal Palace of MilanRoyal Palace of MilanThe Royal Palace of Milan was the seat of government of the Italian city of Milan for many centuries, but today is an important cultural centre, home to expositions and exhibitions....
(Palazzo Reale di Milano) - Institut Matildenhöhe, DarmstadtDarmstadtDarmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
- Sprengel Museum, Hannover
- Stiftung für konstruktive und konkrete Kunst, ZurichZürichZurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
Further reading
Works by Veronesi:- Luigi Veronesi. Luigi Veronesi. Madrid: Ediciones Orbis S.A., Colección Los Grandes Fotógrafos, Volume 39, 1990. ISBN 84-7530-188-6
- Luigi Veronesi and Giancarlo Pauletto. Genesio De Gottardo. Pordenone, Edizioni d'Arte, 1989.
Works about Veronesi:
- Klaus Holbert. Luigi Veronesi. Rationalistische Abstraktion / Rationalistic abstractions. 1927-1996. Institut Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt, Mazzotta, 1997, 300 p.
- Paloma Castellanos. Diccionario histórico de la fotografía. Madrid: Ediciones Istmo S.A., article "Veronesi, Luigi" page 222, 1999.
- Osvaldo Patani. Luigi Veronesi. Catalogo generale dell'opera grafica (1927-1983). Turin: Ed. Allemandi,105 p., 1983.
- Mario Pasi (Texts) and Mauro Bini (ed.). Luigi Veronesi: opere per la scena. Microbrera Gallery, 45 p.,1994,
- Osvaldo Patani. 15 disegni di Luigi Veronesi. Milan: Edizioni del Milione, 1961.
- Giancarlo Pauletto. Luigi Veronesi. Pordenone: Edizioni d'Arte, 52 p., 1984.
- Silvia Pegoraro. Luigi Veronesi. Mailand: Mazzotta, 117 p. 2005.
- Piero Quaglino, Veronesi, artisti contemporanei, Ravenna, Essegi edizioni, 1983.
- Mario Verdone, I film astratti di Veronesi, in "Bianco e Nero", a. XXVI, 2, February 1965.
Works in relation with Veronesi:
- Guido Ballo, La linea dell'arte italiana dal simbolismo alle opere moltiplicate, Rome, Ed. Mediterranee, 1965.
- Gian Piero Brunetta, Storia del cinema italiano, vol. 1, Rome: Editori Riuniti, 1979.
- Luciano Caramel, Aspetti del primo astrattismo italiano 1930-1940, Monza: Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna, 1969.
- Maurizio Fagiolo Dell’Arco, Sull'astrattismo in Italia negli anni trenta, Catalog of the Musée Municipal of S. Paul de Vence, 1970.
- Paolo Fossati, L'immagine sospesa: Pittura e scultura astratte in Italia, 1934-40, Turin, Einaudi, 224 p., 1971.
- Mario Verdone, Le avanguardie storiche del cinema, Turin, Sei, 1977.
External links
- Biography of Veronesi on www.italica.rai
- Studio Calcografico Urbino (Italian)
- Biography of Luigi Veronesi in teknemedia (Italian)
- Biography of Luigi Veronesi en fotografiaeuropea (Italian)
- Biography of Luigi Veronesi in equilibriarte (Italian)
- Biography of Luigi Veronesi in opacprov (Italian)
- History of art of Italy 1935-1945
- Edixxon (Italian)