GUGLIELMO JANNI Rome, 1892 - 1958
Green peppers, 1922
Oil on board, 42 x 27 cm
Signed on the ...

GUGLIELMO JANNI Rome, 1892 - 1958
Green peppers, 1922
Oil on board, 42 x 27 cm
Signed on the back: G. Janni Stamped and declaration of authenticity by Romeo Lucchesi, Libero de Libero, Alberto Ziveri, 10th July 1972 Stamped by Galleria Russo & Russo, La Barcaccia, Rome BIOGRAPHY: Born from the lawyer Giuseppe Janni and Teresa Belli, nephew of the great poet Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, whose literary heritage will exert a lot of charm on the artist's personality. Between 1902 and 1914 he studied at the Liceo Classico and graduated in law. After the war he enrolled in the decoration course held by the liberty artist Giulio Bargellini at the Academy of Fine Arts. After graduation he collaborated with Bargellini and at the same time dedicated himself to deepening his literary and philosophical culture. He made his debut in 1921 at the 1st Roman Biennale. Around 1924 he is called by his master to decorate the headquarters of the Bank of Italy, where he frescoes the History of Italian currency. Other collaborations followed between 1926 and 1927: at the Ministry of the Interior and of Justice, at the National Insurance Institute and at the Terme di Montecatini. The first phase of its production is mainly characterized by religious subjects. In 1923 he exhibited San Tarcisio (missing) at the II Roman Biennale; in 1925 he sent St. Francis to the Franciscan Art Competition in Milan. In 1927 he participated in the Painting Competition of the National Association of Artists of Florence with one of his masterpieces: San Sebastiano. During this period he became a friend of Alberto Ziveri and gradually detached himself from Bargellini. In 1928 he frescoed the votive chapel for the fallen in the church of San Bartolomeo in Busseto (Parma), where he showed particular attention to Piero della Francesca. In 1929 he participated in the 1st Exhibition of the Lazio Fascist Syndicate of Artists. He is positively noted by Roberto Longhi, who writes about the predominantly literary motivations that characterize his painting. In 1931 at the International Exhibition of Modern Christian Sacred Art in Padua he participated with the Works of Mercy. In the thirties the subjects of his painting are characterized by the "vocation to myth", which the artist transcends through a tormented and sensual contemplation of virile beauty, sometimes hidden through the ambiguous and worldly theme of masking. This is demonstrated, for example, by "Endymion", a canvas with which in 1931 he participated in the "Exhibition of Contemporary Italian Painting" in Baltimore (USA). In 1934 he took part in the "Exhibition of Contemporary Italian Painting", a traveling exhibition in the United States, organized by Dario Sabatello. He holds his first solo show in the Cometa Gallery in Rome in 1936. The presentation in the catalog is by Giuseppe Ungaretti. It exhibits a large group of works including: April Figure, Young Athletes, The Mirror, Ballet Figure. Critics welcomed his exhibition very favorably, to the point that the following year he set up his second solo show in the same gallery, where he also presented Cassandra and Pesi e trapezi. Also in 1936 he participated for the only time in the Venice Biennale, united with the protagonists of tonalism. Meanwhile in January he agreed to exhibit three works at the Contemporary Italian Art Exhibition in Budapest. In 1937 he was in Paris with Alberto Ziveri to visit the Universal Exposition. Towards the end of the year, just as he seems to be establishing himself as an artist, he goes through an existential crisis, which leads him to definitively give up painting, after having created a total of just under two hundred works (of which several reduced to the state of fragments). Since 1938 he has concentrated exclusively on the study of the unpublished works by Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, collected in the family library. Until 1956 he worked on the Proustian-inspired biography Belli and his age, which he did not see published. BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Lucchese, Guglielmo Janni, Rome 1972, with writings by G. Ungaretti, L. de Libero and A. Ziveri; M. Fagiolo, Janni, exhibition catalog, Rome 1986, with previous bibliography; Roman school, exhibition catalog, edited by M. Fagiolo and V. Rivosecchi, with the collaboration of F.R. Morelli, Milan 1988,; V. Rivosecchi, in Piero della Francesca and twentieth century painting, exhibition catalog, edited by M.Fagiolo and M.Lamberti, Venice 1991, F. Morelli, Guglielmo Janni, in Italian painting, the twentieth century, Ed. Electa .
Good conditions Frame, glass and passepartout