Giuseppe Mascarini (1877- 1954) - Mother and Child

GIUSEPPE MASCARINI
(Bologna 1877 - Milan 1954)

"Mother and Child"
Oil painting on canvas, 100 x 60 cm
Signed at bottom left

Exhibitions: Annual Autumn Exhibition Dec. 1936 - Esposizione Della Permanente - p.48

Published in "Giuseppe Mascarini 1887-1954. A palette between two centuries" Skira Edition 2016 - page 121 table 150


Bibliography: Critical Notes by C. Carrà, La Mostra Della Permanente in "L'Ambrosiano", 12\12\1936

He always lived and worked in Milan. 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 an "Honorary Member" and he was later called to join the permanent painting commission. 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 that were advancing in the climate of general renewal. Influences of themes such as Symbolism and Divisionism can be found in his paintings from the first decades of the 20th century. The large canvases "Il sogno" (The Dream) 1909, "La visitatrice" (The Visitor) 1909, "Ballata antica" (Ancient Ballad) 1916 and the large alpine landscapes belong to this period, where the tripartition of the horizons, divisionism, the skies that lead towards infinity and visual perception bring back memories of Puvis Chevannes, Hodler and Segantini.
Mascarini loves the mountains and during his summer holidays the beautiful Val Bregaglia is the setting for many of the landscapes he depicts. But Mascarini does not only paint landscapes but also figures, because nature and humanity are two terms that are equally alive in him, both of which generate inspiration.
In his figure paintings he prefers to observe rather than interpret arbitrarily, to keep as close as possible to the subject rather than load it with extreme meanings. His brushstrokes, the strength of drawing and warmth always suggest a vision of serene and familiar calm, a warm unity of tone, a measure, a contained and spontaneous impetus.
He exhibited at the Venice International Biennials from 1900. He took part in the Quadrennial Exhibitions in Rome, the International Exhibitions in Turin, all the social exhibitions of the "Permanente" in Milan, the annual Brera Exhibitions, and the Fine Arts Exhibition in San Francisco in 1915. He organised personal exhibitions in Busto Arsizio in 1920, at Bottega di Poesia in Milan in 1926, at the Scopinich Gallery in Milan in 1931. In 1942 he organised another personal exhibition at the "Permanente". After the war he began exhibiting again at the Venice Biennials and at group exhibitions in the Milan area.