Massimo Campigli

Massimo Campigli (nicknamed Max Ihlenfeldt) was born in Berlin on July 4, 1895. In 1914, Corriere della Sera followed the war as a correspondent, and was imprisoned in various prison camps until 1918. In 1919, Corriere "established in Paris and began self-taught in painting, with visits to the Louvre and the attendance of groups around" L'Esprit Nouveau "and" Plastic Values ". In 1921 he took part in the Salon d'Automne and the following year he sold some works to Leonce Rosenberg. Between 1923 and 1925 he exhibited in Rome and Paris; In 1927 he left the post of "Corriere della Sera" and, the following year, a visit to the Villa Giulia Museum in Rome made him acquainted with Etruscan art, which is deeply impressed. He rejects paintings painted in previous years, which he called "contradictory attempts", and dialogue with tradition became the basis of his pictorial language. He participates in the Venice Biennial of 1926, at the "20th Century" exhibitions in 1926 and 1929; In 1933 he performed the mural for the V Triennale (now lost) with Sironi, Funi and De Chirico. Signatory of the Mural Painting Poster is involved in frescoes for the Palace of Justice in Milan (1938) and for the University of Padua (1939-40). After the birth of his first son in 1943, the family returned to Milan, where the artist devoted himself to lithography, illustrating the Poems of Paul Verlaine. Participate at the Exhibition of Contemporary Art at the Gallery of Modern Art in Rome. In 1949 Campigli left Milan for Paris and exhibited for the first time at the Galerie de France and in June at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, appearing alongside the most prestigious names of Italian art in the twenty-first century Italian Art exhibition. Intensifies the commitments Abroad, with exhibitions in Paris, Manchester, Boston, Amsterdam and London. In 1961, he left Paris in Chastel's monograph Les Idoles de Campigli. In the two-year "France-Italie" Campigli show is a place of honor with a great anthology. He exhibits in Munich, Melbourne, Sydney, Paris, and prepares the Royal Palace at Milan. Riding the wave of a now-acquired success he exhibits in Tokyo, Osaka, Paris, Rome and Milan. He died in Saint Tropez on the evening of May 31, 1971, stricken by a heart attack.

Text © Monte dei Paschi di Siena, 2017