Joseph Garibaldi, Composition In A Workshop Corner, 1885

Joseph GARIBALDI (1863 - 1941)
Composition in a corner of the studio, 1885
Oil on canvas, signed lower right
66 x 53 cm

Exhibition :
Joseph Garibaldi, Le Midi peaceful, Regards de Provence Museum, Marseille, March 10 - July 1 2012, reproduced in the exhibition catalog on p. 62.

Joseph Garibaldi was born in Marseille in 1863. He came to painting on the recommendations of Louis Prat, boss of the Marseille company Noilly-Prat for which his father worked. A student of the painter Vollon, the young artist established strong friendships with his son Alexis, which continued after the death of the master in 1900. Joseph Garibaldi exhibited at the Salon of French Artists from 1884 to 1914, where he met with great success. Most often, his works illustrate ports on the Mediterranean coast: La Ciotat, Bandol, Sanary or even Toulon, famous sites and monuments of Provence. But it is to the port of Marseille that the artist is particularly attached and faithful. From his workshop on the Quai de Rive-Neuve, Garibaldi never stops exploring the forest of masts that unfolds under the windows. Painter of the Old Port, he is also attached to the life of small Provençal villages, particularly in Vaucluse where his wife was born and where the couple frequently visits. His interest often leads his painterly steps a little away from village life: near a fountain, a road, a religious or ancient monument emblematic of the place but little frequented. A few characters are busy there or strolling around (most often a peasant and an animal), however, the feeling which dominates these compositions is that of a profound tranquility, a solitude marked by nostalgia, in the tradition of the Félibres. The sharpness of the whole, with almost photographic precision, does not prevent a distancing from the subject, orchestrated by other technical elements such as the framing or the treatment of color and light. These snapshots thus take on a timeless character. Garibaldi undertook a few trips, supported by various patrons: after Venice, in 1895 and 1903, Corsica, in 1889 and 1895, or Savoy and Ariège, he discovered Tunisia in 1907 thanks to a travel grant. He settled after the Great War in Fos-sur-Mer, where he stayed frequently since the 1910s. Affected by glaucoma in the 1930s, Joseph Garibaldi died in his hometown in 1941. In the last decade, exhibitions in Cassis (Les terres marines de Joseph Garibaldi, 2006) or in Marseille (Joseph Garibaldi, le Midi peaceful, Fondation Regards de Provence, Palais des Arts, 2012) were notably able to pay tribute to his work. Portrait of Joseph Garibaldi by Paul Saïn, 1902. Private collection.