Giuseppe Mascarini (milan 1877-1954) - Bruges

Giuseppe Mascarini (1877-1954) -View of Bruges Giuseppe Mascarini (Bologna 1877 - Milan 1954) Oil painting on canvas representing a view of the Loire river which crosses the French village of Bruges. Measurements of the canvas: width cm 50, height cm 65 Signed in the lower left corner G.Mascarini Published "Giuseppe Mascarini 1887-1954. A palette between two centuries" Skira edition 2016 - page 153 table 226 He lived and worked in Milan . He studied at the Brera Academy. Gifted in drawing and painting, he won prizes in 1896 and 1897 when he participated for the first time in the Brera exhibitions. In 1900, the Academy named him "honorary member" and, later, he was called to be part of the permanent commission of painting. He spent the first years of the century in Paris where he studied the painting of the great masters of the past and followed the new pictorial trends which were asserting themselves in the climate of general renewal. Influences of themes such as symbolism, divisionism, can be found in his paintings from the first decades of 1900. The large canvases "Il sogno" (The dream) 1909, "La visitatrice" (The visitor) 1909, "Ballata antica "(Ancient Ballad) 1916 and the great Alpine landscapes belong to this period, where the tripartition of horizons, divisionism, skies that lead to infinity, visual perception recall reminiscences of Puvis Chevannes, Hodler and Segantini. Mascarini loved the mountains, and during his summer vacations the magnificent Val Bregaglia was the setting for many of the landscapes he depicted. But Mascarini does not only paint landscapes, but also figures, because nature and humanity are two terms that are equally alive with him, both of which generate inspiration. In his figure paintings he prefers to observe rather than arbitrarily interpret, to stay as close as possible to the subject rather than burdening it with extreme meanings. His brushstrokes, the strength of the drawing and the warmth always suggest a vision of serene and familiar calm, a warm unity of tone, a measure, a contained and spontaneous momentum.