Javanese Dancer (1914)

Signed upper right: ‘G. Chini 1914’; on the reverse: exhibition labels
Exhibitions: Milan 1977, Rome 1988, Bangkok 1994, Rome 1996, Ravenna 2009, Pontedera 2019.
Bibliography: Galileo Chini nel Regno del Siam (1911-1914), exhibition catalogue (Bangkok, National Gallery, 30 March – 10 April 1994), Bangkok 1994, p. 33 (ill.); P. Pacini, Galileo Chini, Soncino, Edizioni del Soncino 2002, p. 74, no. 24 (ill.);
L’ artista viaggiatore. Da Gauguin a Klee, da Matisse a Ontani, exhibition catalogue (Ravenna, 22 February – 21 June 2009), Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana editoriale 2009, p. 155 (ill.); Orizzonti d’acqua, exhibition catalogue edited by M. B. Bacchini, F. Bacci di Capaci (Palp, Pontedera, 8 December 2018 – 28 April 2019), Pontedera, Pandecchi e Vivaldi, p. 158 (ill).
Provenance: private collection

A multifaceted and central figure in the Italian cultural scene of the early decades of the 20th century, Galileo Chini was a brilliant protagonist of an aesthetic capable of crossing different languages and techniques: from painting – ranging from symbolism to divisionism and verism – to decoration and applied arts, which he interpreted with equal inventiveness and vigour.
One of the leading interpreters of Art Nouveau in Italy, Chini kept alive in his poetics both the influences of the Renaissance masters and the secessionist and symbolist innovations from beyond the Alps, which led him to enjoy great success from his very first works. The crowning achievement of his Symbolist phase was the decoration of the dome of the octagonal hall of the 7th Venice Biennale in 1909, a sort of manifesto of Art Nouveau decoration that recounts the history of art and civilisation in an allegorical journey through time. Just two years earlier, again at the Biennale, he had been responsible for decorating the famous Hall of Dream. It is likely that it was on that occasion that the King of Siam, Chulalongkorn (Rama V), who was looking for a Western painter to decorate the new Throne Hall in Bangkok, was struck by Chini’s style. In 1910, he invited him to Siam and entrusted him with the task. The artist left Genoa in 1911, a crucial moment in which his life and work became inextricably intertwined with the East and its fascinating aesthetics.
During the long months he spent decorating the Palace, until August 1913, Chini immersed himself in the Thai atmosphere: instead of dreaming of the East, as every painter of the time desired, he experienced it in his daily life. He opened himself up to new experiments and reflections, studied the spirituality of the place, assimilated its intimate naturalness, and his work was enriched with exotic influences not only in terms of themes, but also in style and technique. The journey is documented by a series of photographs in which the artist divides his time between court life and exploring Siam and its customs, rituals, artistic and architectural manifestations, shows, dances and parades. All these aspects came together in the works he produced during his intense years in the East and exhibited in his solo show at the 1914 Venice Biennale, including Monn Dancer, a work closely related to the one presented here, Javanese Dancer, painted in 1914. It is a vertical tempera on canvas in which all the wonder of the East is manifested. The dancer is Javanese, a detail that highlights the rich ritual, religious and cultural syncretism of early 20th-century Siam, which is also reflected in Chini’s memoirs: “To those arriving for the first time, Siam makes a strange impression […] What is certain is that during those days (during the festivities), we were treated to truly mind-blowing spectacles […]. The festivities continued for several days, and so we Europeans also had the opportunity to delve a little into the true spirit of the Orient”.
The period spent in Siam coincided with the peak of Chini’s career, in a particularly intense and fruitful phase, in which a real stylistic transition took place: now beyond symbolism, in dialogue with the Nabis movement, he turned towards a more intimate and concrete investigation of reality, pervaded by bright colours and soft lines. This gave rise to images of monumental Buddhas with golden reflections, monks in prayer, temples enveloped in a vibrant and silent spirituality, starry skies, floating lanterns, and glimpses of tropical vegetation invading the sanctuaries: these are among the most lyrical and intense examples of Chini’s work.
The Javanese Dancer, wrapped in her traditional costume, a wide skirt that leaves her upper body uncovered, shines with the opalescence of her colours – in which the divisionist style returns at times – and the naturalness of her pose, soft and supple. An ancestral idol immersed in her thoughts and enveloped in a reddish, oblique light, which gives the work a secret, fairy-tale dimension. The headdress, adorned with colourful elements, anticipates the typical stylised floral decorations in small circles that Chini would use profusely in the decorative panels he created, also in 1914, for the room at the Venice Biennale dedicated to Mestrovič and in particular in Spring that is perpetually renewed. The mysterious and fascinating dancers represent the high point of Chini’s Orientalist production and celebrate a distant but tangible universe, evoking its colours, sounds, music, aromas and enchantment, in which exotic fascination and ethnographic sensitivity coexist.

Elena Lago