LONDON.- The first exhibition dedicated to the work of Osvaldo Licini (1894-1958) in the UK opens at the Estorick Collection this summer. An idiosyncratic yet key figure of 20th century Italian art, Licini participated in the Futurist movement before establishing himself as a figurative painter of portraits and landscapes. During the1930s he adopted a geometric abstract style then, during the Second World War, changed his approach once again, going on to produce highly imaginative works animated by fantastical characters. This show explores every phase of Licini’s career and presents a large number of the artist’s masterpieces, including key loans from Milan’s renowned Augusto and Francesca Giovanardi Collection.

Licini was born in Monte Vidon Corrado, in the Marche region of Italy. In 1908 he enrolled at Bologna’s Academy of Fine Arts where he met Giorgio Morandi, with whom he shared an enthusiasm for Futurism. Having been called up for miliary service he was invalided out of the army in late 1915 and convalesced in Paris, where he met artists such as Picasso and Modigliani.

During the late 1920s he took part in the exhibitions of the Novecento group, despite never subscribing to the spirit of the post-war ‘return to order’ like its other members. During the early 1930s Licini rejected figurative imagery in favour of geometric abstraction, although his imagery was consistently playful and certainly never austere, containing particular affinities with the work of Paul Klee and Joan Miró.

Toward the end of the decade, Licini supported the Futurist leader F. T. Marinetti in his fight against those reactionary cultural forces within the Fascist party that wanted to import Nazism’s crusade against ‘degenerate’ art into Italy. He spent the war years in Monte Vidon Corrado developing a new approach to painting, animating his work with fantastical characters that introduced an ironic and mystical element to his imagery.

Having served two terms as Monte Vidon Corrado’s mayor (endorsed by the local Communist party), Licini died suddenly in 1958. Earlier that year he had been awarded the Grand Prize for painting at the Venice Biennale – an honour that had never before been given to an Italian artist.

The exhibition has been curated by Mattia Patti, Associate Professor, University of Pisa.

The Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art is internationally renowned for its core of Futurist works. It comprises some 120 paintings, drawings, watercolours, prints and sculptures by many of the most prominent Italian artists of the modernist era. There are six galleries, two of which are used for temporary exhibitions. Since opening in 1998, the Estorick has established a reputation and gained critical acclaim as a key venue for bringing Italian art to the British public.

14 June – 10 September 2023