August Moon (1910)

Signed lower left “Camillo Innocenti”

On the reverse: label from the Buenos Aires exhibition, 1912

Exhibitions: 1910, Venice Biennale; 1912, Buenos Aires Exhibition

Bibliography: IX International Art Exhibition of the City of Venice, Venice 1910, p. 27, no. 12; V. Pica, World Art at the IX Venice Exhibition, in “Emporium”, 1910, vol. XXXII, no. 188, pp. 98–99, repr.; G. Marangoni, Critical Notes on the International Art Exhibition in Venice, in “Natura ed Arte”, 1910, no. 15, p. 150; F. P. Parisi (ed.), Exposición Camillo Innocenti, Buenos Aires 1912, p. 12, no. 19; L. Djokic Titonel, M. Fagiolo dell’Arco (eds.), Camillo Innocenti 1871–1961, Rome 1993, p. 63.

Luna d’agosto was presented in 1910 at the ninth Venice Biennale, in the Lazio hall, which Innocenti himself curated, alongside two other paintings: Vento di maestrale (current location unknown) and Capricci femminili (private collection). Whilst the latter belonged to a theme already extensively explored by the artist—namely that of the female figure in elegant, fashionable attire bathed in nocturnal light— Vento di maestrale and the painting under consideration, however, tackle a theme that was essentially new to him: that of figures by the sea, likely of Spanish inspiration and, in particular, close to the work of Joaquín Sorolla, although Innocenti prefers the silvery moonlight to the dazzling Mediterranean light of the Valencian master.

In terms of its pictorial style, Luna d’agosto stands out as one of the Roman painter’s most experimental works, in which he eschews the sensuality of colour to focus on the essentiality of form. The original compositional approach also seems to reveal a certain affinity with contemporary artistic photography, to which the measured harmony of greys also alludes: a choice that recalls the contemporary painting of Francesco Paolo Michetti, an artist whom Innocenti admired and had known since 1895 (see M. Carrera, Camillo Innocenti prima della Secessione. Encounters and Exchanges between Art and Literature, in Roman Secession 1913–2013. Themes and Issues, edited by M. Carrera and J. Nigro Covre, Rome 2013, Bagatto Libri, pp. 41–51). Signed but undated, the work should in all likelihood be dated to the summer of 1909: if it was in fact painted in August, as the title suggests, it must be the August of the year preceding its first exhibition, which took place, as mentioned at the outset, in the spring of 1910. At the time the painting was executed, Innocenti was at the height of his success: indeed, 1909 had marked his consecration at the Venice Biennale, where a major solo exhibition of twenty works was dedicated to him; this not only established him as one of the most influential Italian artists of the time but also paved the way for his international recognition. Even during his early appearances at the Venice exhibition, Innocenti had already won the appreciation of critics and collectors for his modern sensibility in the depiction of folkloric subjects; but it was from the 1907 Biennale onwards that he assumed a prominent role in contemporary art, definitively turning towards elegant scenes of modern life and specialising above all in the poetics of the feminine world, to which he would devote himself almost exclusively for the entire following two decades. Attentive to international painting and in particular to the English influence of Lavery, the Spanish influence from Sorolla to Anglada Camarasa – it should be noted that the artist travelled to Spain for a study visit during his formative years – and the flesh tones of the Swedish artist Zorn, Innocenti became a champion of a fluid and luminous style of painting, which he would express most effectively in his depictions of high society and scenes of bourgeois daily life, in keeping with the prevailing taste of the time.

It is therefore not surprising that at the 1910 Biennale, Innocenti’s work was one of the most eagerly anticipated. Expectations were not disappointed: nevertheless, there was no shortage of perplexity and harsh criticism, which are worth noting as they are symptomatic of the perception of modern painting on the Italian scene, which was, more often than not, hostile towards the most up-to-date artistic explorations. A particularly harsh judgement came from Guido Marangoni, who, in a review published in *Natura ed Arte*, reproached Innocenti for ‘his abuse of superficial silhouettism’ (Marangoni 1910). The critic went on to state that he preferred him for his subjects drawn from Abruzzo folklore rather than for “the bizarre eccentricities of Luna d’agosto”; he then condemned the critics who, in acclaiming the Roman painter, were promoting “futurisms of a dubious sort”, before branding Innocenti’s recent paintings as “convulsive and hysterical pseudo-modernities”. In reality, this represented a decisive step forward in the artist’s development, as the Neapolitan Vittorio Pica—one of the most influential critics of the time—noted with greater clarity in *Emporium*, recognising in this bolder phase ‘an important step forward towards a more modern and original personality’. Of the three paintings exhibited in Venice, the critic gave his preference to Luna d’agosto – erroneously, but poetically, cited as Luna d’argento – “of the most charming delicacy of inspiration and execution, and therefore easier to be appreciated and enjoyed by those who do not wish to be torn from their visual habits” (Pica 1910).

After the 1910 Biennale, Luna d’agosto was exhibited again in 1912 in Buenos Aires, at the Witcomb Gallery, in the monographic exhibition dedicated to Innocenti and introduced in the catalogue by a text by the Italian-born, naturalised Argentine painter Francesco Paolo Parisi.

Manuel Carrera