Period

8.12.2012 / 17.03.2013

Description

The exhibition showcases the works of Schio painter Ettore Calvi (1898-1945), donated to the city in 2010 by his daughter, Ileana Ilva Calvi.

Calvi’s artistic aptitude was evident at a young age, when he started studying painting with Alfredo Ortelli, at the time one of the best known and respected painters in Schio. His passion for art would take him away from Schio and to Turin, a larger city.

Here he started working as an assistant set designer for Italy’s first film production company, Universal Films, coming into contact with the circle of artists, directors and actors of the city.

He returned to Schio at the end of the First World War and started a career as an illustrator for Industria Grafica Marzari, alongside his painting. He was enriched by teaching night courses at the Scuola d’Arte e Mestieri, an arts academy, and by the circle of friends belonging to the Circolo Artisti Scledensi, a club dedicated to art which he founded and administrated for a long time.

Amongst his more famous students we find Dino Lanaro and Silvio Cavedon.

He was a figure of mediation between provincial (Schio) and city (Turin) life as is reflected in his style, which in part looks back to the XIX century and in part searches for more essential and rational elements.

He painted mountain landscapes and represented small rural and urban life, creating compositions dominated by a simple bell tower, a country road or a staircase, where the light renders the scene dreamy and evocative.

Images

Credits: © Quaderni di Schio, Edizioni Menin, 2009