Felice Casorati

Felice Casorati
Name	Felice Casorati
Birth date	1883
Birth place	Novara
Death date	1963
Death place	Turin
Nationality	Italy
Known for	Painting, printmaking, portraiture

Felice Casorati Felice Casorati was an Italian painter, printmaker, and teacher whose work bridged Symbolism, Futurism, and Modernism during the early to mid-20th century. Active in Turin and connected to artistic circles in Milan, Rome, and Paris, Casorati became known for his austere portraiture, still lifes, and metaphysical compositions that influenced generations of Italian and European artists. His practice intersected with movements and figures such as Giorgio de Chirico, Amedeo Modigliani, Carlo Carrà, and institutions like the Biennale di Venezia and the Académie Julian.

Biography

Born in Novara in 1883, Casorati studied law before turning to art, training in studios associated with Vittorio Matteo Corcos and traveling to Venice and Florence to study the work of Giorgio Vasari and Masaccio. He settled in Turin, where he became integrated into circles around the Circle of the Quarto Stato and exhibited alongside painters such as Adolfo Wildt, Gino Severini, and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Casorati maintained connections with cultural institutions including the Pinacoteca di Brera, the Accademia Albertina, and participated in events at the Biennale di Venezia and the Quadriennale di Roma. During the interwar period he navigated relationships with patrons, collectors, and critics from Milan, Rome, and Paris, while surviving the disruptions of World War I and World War II. He died in Turin in 1963, leaving a corpus that entered collections at institutions such as the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, the Museo del Novecento, and international museums in New York City and London.

Artistic Development and Style

Casorati's early work shows affinities with Symbolism and the figurations of Antonio Donghi and Felice Carena, evolving toward a metaphysical clarity akin to Giorgio de Chirico and the solidity found in Paul Cézanne and Georges Braque. He absorbed currents from Futurism and the Return to Order movement while rejecting purely decorative Art Nouveau tendencies common in Turin salons. His style is marked by flattened spatial planes, painstaking draftsmanship, and a clinical arrangement of objects reminiscent of the still lifes by Juan Gris and portraits by Amedeo Modigliani. Casorati employed techniques learned from printmakers linked to the Académie Julian and the Atelier 17 milieu, producing etchings and lithographs alongside oil paintings and tempera panels. Critics compared his compositional rigor to that of Piero della Francesca and the pictorial geometry emphasized by Kazimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian while noting a poetic austerity associated with Metaphysical art.

Major Works and Series

Important paintings and series include his portrait cycles, tabletop still lifes, and allegorical compositions executed in the 1910s through the 1940s, often exhibited with peers such as Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Levi, and Massimo Campigli. Notable works entered collections at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and private holdings of patrons from Milan and Turin. Series of portraits of women and children recall the psychological intensity found in works by Giorgio de Chirico and the intimacy of Édouard Vuillard. His still lifes—arranged with books, ceramics, and musical instruments—draw comparisons to the compositions of Paul Cézanne, Georges Braque, and Juan Gris, and to contemporaneous creations by Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger. Casorati also produced stage designs and scenic works connected to theatrical figures and institutions like the Teatro Regio Torino and collaborators from Commedia dell'arte revivals.

Teaching and Influence

As a teacher at the Accademia Albertina and through private studios in Turin, Casorati trained artists who became prominent in postwar Italian painting, including students linked to movements represented at the Biennale di Venezia and the Quadriennale di Roma. His pedagogical approach emphasized draughtsmanship, compositional order, and study of Renaissance masters such as Andrea Mantegna and Piero della Francesca, connecting younger artists to traditions acknowledged by critics in Milanese and Roman journals. Pupil networks intersected with figures like Giorgio Morandi, Lucio Fontana, and later generations in Turin’s cultural institutions, contributing to exhibitions at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna and collaborations with architects and designers associated with Italian Rationalism.

Exhibitions and Reception

Casorati exhibited at key venues including the Biennale di Venezia, the Quadriennale di Roma, and galleries in Milan, Paris, and New York City, often alongside painters such as Giorgio de Chirico, Amedeo Modigliani, and Carlo Carrà. Contemporary critics from newspapers and periodicals in Milan and Turin debated his relationship to avant-garde currents like Futurism and the Return to Order, producing reviews in journals tied to the Accademia Albertina and independent salons. International exhibitions introduced his work to curators at the Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Modern's predecessor institutions, while retrospective shows at museums in Turin, Rome, and Milan reframed his contribution alongside figures such as Umberto Boccioni and Gino Severini. His reception varied across decades, with renewed interest in the postwar period amid reevaluations of Metaphysical art and Modernism.

Legacy and Critical Assessment

Casorati's legacy is situated among 20th-century Italian painters who reconciled classical draftsmanship with modern sensibilities, influencing artists shown at the Biennale di Venezia and movements catalogued by critics in Milan and Rome. Scholarly reassessments link his practice to debates involving Metaphysical art, Futurism, and the Return to Order, positioning him near contemporaries like Giorgio de Chirico, Carlo Carrà, and Giorgio Morandi. Museum collections in Italy and abroad continue to exhibit his work alongside representatives of Modernism, while curators reference his role in the pedagogical lineage through institutions such as the Accademia Albertina and the Pinacoteca di Brera. Critics note Casorati's formal rigor and psychological sobriety as enduring contributions to 20th-century painting, aligning him with reassessments of European art history that consider the interplay of tradition and innovation.

Category:Italian painters