I would like to report the exhibition and the name of Attilio Alfieri, an Istrantano artist who has always lived in Milan, participating since the 1930s in the movement of the Chiaristi and then in the new figules that had been had after the 1950s. Discreet friend,
So I met him and attended him, active every day in his Milanese studio, with a pipe in his mouth and a brush always in his hands in front of Teleri who began his land, his brands, his cònero.
The exhibition, born from an idea of the scientific director of the Cart of Falconara Marittima, and created in collaboration with Alifieri Aliosca son of the artist and president of theAttilio Alfieri Archive of Milan, he intends to illuminate Alfieri’s work through a cross -section of his artistic production, significant and useful to be deepened, such as the linear path of the more traditional pictorial practice (that of drawing, watercolors, tempera and oils), which has expressed itself within one of the genres of painting, however dear to Alfieri, such as that of the landscape, pointing the gaze on the works addressed to the territories of the Marche.
On display are exposed drawings and paintings of the entire production of the master on the landscape of origin and affection (including urban views), to go into an aspect of the research by Alfieri, which of Landscape of the Marche investigates, interprets and elaborates the essence, conferring them A solemn and ancient dignity.
In the exhibition itinerary and in the catalog of the exhibition, all the pictorial periods of the artist and the love for his homeland can be found. From the first drawings of 1926 to oils in clarist version, from the paintings of Cezannian inspiration of the years Thirty to the material of the years Forty and, to follow, the vast production of the years Seventy and Eighty. The works on display is a first drawing prelude (Soldier of 1919, performed at the age of 15), to make the visitor understand the natural talent of this artist.
The Marche landscape accompanied Attilio Alfieri during all his existence and despite having moved very young to Milan, the artist has always returned regularly to his land. Every time irreparably attracted by a landscape which claimed to be completely typical, unique for the section of the soil and for the cangiantism of colors, and exceptionally extraordinary for the ability to transmit a religious sense and intimate peace. Especially the Conero, a mountain mitized since she is a boy and the Leopardian poetic suggestionswith its load of sentimental memories and references, according to what in the text in the catalog, has been called to be one affective geography of the Marche and also a hear epidermal of the artist of landscape painting of the Adriatic side.
They are chine, watercolors, tempera and oils, always made outdoors, in contact with the beloved nature, in a sort of research and regeneration of itself. It is therefore no coincidence that the last and only works were the landscapes, dozens of drawings performed in marker at the turn of 1990 and ’91, here in his native land in an attempt to alleviate the pain caused by the death of his wife.
The works on display, in addition to the Attilio Alfieri Archive of Milan, come from private and public collections also of the territory (as in particular by the collections of the Municipality of Loreto and the Municipality of Sassoferrato), to also underline a shared participation of the places lived and represented by Alfieri.
The exhibition, promoted by the Municipality of Falconara M. (AN), in collaboration with the Attilio Alfieri Association of Milan, participates in the support of the Marche Region with the partner of the Amia – Marche Association of Artistic Initiatives and of the Artistic Association Artemisia.
Attilio Alfieri (Loreto 1904 – Milan 1992). Born in Loreto to illiterate parents and in modest economic conditions. Self -taught painter, he begins to draw at the age of 15 (The soldier, on display) following in the footsteps and rudiments of the older brother, decorator and amateur painter. It is perfected as the help of the Piacenza Camozzi decorator, called to work in the Basilica of Loreto, and thanks to him in 1923 he was hired as an apprentice in Piacenza by the painters of churches aspects and reds. However, he realizes that the decoration is a brake on creativity and in 1925 he found a whitewashing work in Milan so that he can attend the evening painting courses at the Brera Academy and at the Castello Sforzesco.
“I entered Milan as a hesitant sparrow, greedy to catch that city nourishment necessary for my unbridgeable ignorance, innocent presumption“.” (Quote from the diaries of Attilio Alfieri, 1925-1931, Attilio Alfieri Archive, Milan).
In April 1927 he was enrolled in the army and transferred to Fiume. His libertarian and independent spirit badly suited to the rigidity of military life; slender build undertakes a confndered fasting, which will be worth the early leave in October of the same year. That period in contact with the wild nature of Istria will stimulate it to painting en plein air.
“Tonight I mounted on guard, I saw a wonderful lunar show. I was really stunned.
I will always remember similar impression, and I decided to study the ‘true’ – painting – since poetry has forever abandoned me“.” (Quote from the diaries of Attilio Alfieri, 1925-1931, Attilio Alfieri Archive, Milan).
This necessity will push him after his leave to move to Brianza to study the “landscape” in the footsteps of the Segantini. He returned to Milan in 1930 and rented a dowel in via Solferino 11, a real lair of young artists, including Saltini, Andreoni, Mantica, Bonfantini, Birolli, Spilimbergo, Lilloni, Greggio, Del Bon, and frequented by intellectuals such as Giolli, Persico, Cat, Cantatore and Carrieri. The first collective exhibition, The painters of number 11it is from 1931 The same Persico will give him the opportunity to exhibit, out of catalog, at the Milan Triennale of 1933, his five Tributes. It is in 1934, however, the first staff at the Milan Filological Club. Between 1933 and 1944 he carried out several “advertising” works in Italy and abroad for the stands of the fairs. Thus begins the polygraded experience, inherited partly by Prampolini, but personalized with more advanced techniques and an audacity unthinkable in those days, which will create an extraordinary series of “panels and collages”. In 1937 in Paris, at the universal exhibition he obtained the gold medal.
From 1939 to 1944 he participated in the Bergamo Prize (awarded 3 times), in the Rome Quadrennial (1939 and 1943) and at the Venice Biennale (1938, 1942 and 1944). Over the years he obtained numerous prizes and awards including: the Verona Prize and the Pier Della Francesca Prize in Florence in ’42; the Medardo Rosso Prize in Milan in ’54; the 1st Municipality of Milan in ’57; the 1st City of Imperia prize in ’63; The 1st maternity award Mangiagalli in 1966 and 1988 the prize to the gratitude of the Province of Milan. The first anthological is from 1971 to the company promoting fine arts at the Valentino in Turin.
The recognition of his artistic role in Milan takes place in 1981 with the large and thorough anthological promoted by the Municipality of Milan; Over two hundred works exhibited at Palazzo Reale. At the end of his career he will follow “the two souls of the enigma” in 1989, curated by A. Ginesi and promoted by the Municipality of Loreto. In 1959 his first monograph published by Bertieri and curated by Giorgio Kaisserlian, who the following year he will also take care of a second, “15 drawings by Attilio Alfieri”, ed. Million gallery. We also remember the exhibitions from the Attilio Alfieri Archive: in 2004 to the Mole Vanvitelliana of Ancona on the occasion of the centenary of the birth, in 2016 in Fano edited by Credito Valtellinese.
Carlo Franza