"Dolce vita" in Florence by Guido Borgianni. Italy, 1960

About the Item

Guido Borgianni was born in New York on June 11, 1915, to Florentine Roberto Borgianni, a leather merchant, and Sara Herreshoff, who belonged to one of the wealthiest families in the United States and became a legend in the construction of the racing boats that also participated in and won the America's Cup. Guido was not even a year old when, once his parents' marriage had foundered, his father brought him back to Florence. Of Guido Borgianni's extraordinary gifts as a draftsman and painter, Galileo Chini, his neighbor, noticed, and he worked to see that talent refined. Thus Borgianni attended the Academy of Fine Arts under Felice Carena, a strict teacher but one who knew how to appreciate the qualities of his pupils. In the first part of his life he signed his works in black. Then, when he became a pointillist, he began to use red. Among his great admirers were Alessandro Parronchi and Oskar Kokoschka, who was captivated by Borgianni's paintings during his Florentine stay in 1949. Soffici, Saetti, Malaparte, Montale, Pratolini, and Cesare Zavattini, the screenwriter of Vittorio De Sica and Italian neorealism, all liked him very much, finding him "as beautiful as a Corot." In 1946 he exhibited at the Quadriennale in Rome. After his marriage to Simonetta Avila in 1954, his activities were enlivened by travel: in 1955 to Venice, in 1957 to Paris, from 1958 to 1962 around Italy, in 1964 to Spain, in 1971 to New York and Barbados Islands. In 1950 he was awarded a prize at the Mostra Nazionale del Fiorino in Florence, and in 1956 he was appointed Academician of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence. In 1957 he was awarded First Prize at the Portrait Exhibition at Dante's House in Florence. Upon his death, deep condolences were expressed by the president of the Florence City Council, Eugenio Giani: I remember," says Giani, "the beautiful exhibition that, as the City of Florence, we wanted to organize at the Palagio di Parte Guelfa two years ago, when it was the collectors who wanted to enthusiastically propose to give worthy recognition to perhaps the last exponent of that great school of the Florentine twentieth century that found in Borgianni continuity with artists such as Ottone Rosai and Ardengo Soffici. His works are in the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Palazzo Pitti, the Vasari Corridor's Collection of Self-Portraits and the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi in Florence, the Raccolta d'Arte Moderna in Pisa, the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Bologna, the Kunsthalle in Bielefeld, Germany, and many private collections in Italy and abroad (in Milan, Turin, Genoa, Florence, Prato, Rome, Naples, Palermo, Athens, Paris, London, New York). He died in Florence on January 2, 2011 at the age of 95[1].

Dimensions:

Height: 27.17 in (69 cm)Width: 20.48 in (52 cm)Depth: 0.79 in (2 cm)

Materials and Techniques:

Canvas,Painted

Place of Origin:

Italy

Period:

1950-1959

Date of Manufacture:

1950

Condition:

Wear consistent with age and use.