Studio: international art (38.1906)

Italian Art at the Milan Exhibition

Italian life. This resume tells us, above all, in a
number of pages vibrating with a sense of that
youth which has no existence in any official or
academic painting in Italy. This is not to say
that there is no empty commercial work here, but
it would seem to be diminishing.

Strength of colour has long been the chief merit
of the Lombardian school, which is largely repre-
sented at Milan. Beside the “ Independants ” the
groups of M. L. Bazzaro and M. E. Gola form a
respectable number of exhibitors. In the first of
these groups M. Bazzaro has three canvases, the
largest of which, Dopo il Naufragio, is a quiver-
ing symphony which photography cannot render;
thus its reproduction is impossible. Near M.

Bazzaro’s picture is a decorative panel, a suggestive
work in pastel, the beauties of which its author,

M. A. Ferragutti-Visconti,
presents with the full elo-
quence of knowledge. This
pastel is undoubtedly one
of the most delicate things
in the exhibition; and
another work to be noticed
is the melodious and lifelike
painting in azured white
by M. C. Cressini, called
Le Stiratrici. Another
charming thing, full of
movement, and neither au-
dacious nor timid, belongs
to the group of M. Gola,
a talented painter and in-
defatigable chercheur like
M. E. Borsa, who, in the
Bazzaro group, has a vigor-
ous landscape, November, a
real page of nature, executed
with flying brush and with
a certainty that never fails.

I must also refer—very
briefly, to my regret—to the
pastel portraits, somewhat
black but lifelike, by M. A.

Rietti; to a very singular
picture, La Vecchia, by
M. O. Pick, very firmly
painted; to a fine cartoon
by M. G. Zuccaro, Mors
Sola Victrix; to the clever
drawings in red chalk of
M. T. Cantinotti.

I now come to the sculp-
ture, which, so far as I pastel portrait by umberto coromaldi

JSS

can see, boasts no work of exceptional merit. In the
Italian art movement, sculpture has lagged behind
painting, yet the influence of Rodin and Meunier
makes itself felt at times. But a really virile
accent I fail to hear in these galleries, inhabited
as they are by hundreds of marbles and bronzes.

One of the best works, a statue of delicate
expression and imposing tournure, is the Rape
Niobe of M. E. Pellini, which occupies a
conspicuous position. A fragment of statuary,
Leonidas, by M. E. Bazzaro, brother of the painter,
is an example of profound plastic work; M.
Graziosi’s Al Lavoro is quite a good piece of sculp-
ture, but seen somewhat in the light of Meunier,
just as M. Pellini has seen his imposing Minotaut
through Rodin. M. R. Bugatti contributes some
excellent maquettes, full of life and movement,