Interior scene in Libya

Signed lower right “Mario Ridola”

Bibliography: Paintings, Sculptures and Graphics from the African Museum Collections, general catalogue, edited by M. Margozzi, IsIAO, Rome 2005.

Mario Ridola’s colonial repertoire, which certainly appears more effective than the more modest and ordinary Neapolitan repertoire of the early 20th century, consists of remarkable impressions and suggestions of everyday life in Libya. African motifs surface with delicacy and refined chromatic sensitivity, with sunsets and large expanses of bright desert, as seen in canvases such as Derna. Oasis or Panorama of Cyrene executed between 1923 and 1924, or Arab of Tubruq, exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1924.

Very recurrent are the depictions of Arab women in typical costumes, engaged in the most diverse daily activities, immersed in the teeming chaos of cities in eastern Libya, such as Cyrene. It is because of this particular dedication to the depiction of Libyan women that Ridola has long been called ‘the painter of the mabrukes’, so celebrated in the solo exhibition held by the artist in the halls of the Cyrene Parliament in 1923, at the invitation of the governor of Cyrenaica.

In contrast to 19th century Orientalism, colonial art works, although derived from it, are more aimed at emphasising the vital reality of the colony and not its imaginative and romantic potential. Thus, the intent to convey a connection with distant and exotic lands is transformed into the need to create a kind of reportage with the aim of celebrating the Italian imperialist conquests, ideal continuations of those of the Roman era in Leptis Magna, the homeland of Septimius Severus. This corpus of images and documentation then appeared punctually in the pavilions of the Colonial Exhibitions held during the 1920s and 1930s all over Europe: at the 1932 Colonial Exhibition in Verona, a Giovinetta di Cirene by Ridola was exhibited.

It is in this context that the work Mercato in Nord Africa (Market in North Africa), a bright and unprecedented pastel on paper, embellished by its original frame adorned with oriental motifs, also fits in. In this work, Mario Ridola captures a quick and dynamic impression of the Libyan market. With a shot taken from a photograph, he brings to life a typical Orientalist tranche de vie, in which women, children and men are filmed in an everyday moment in the city. In the foreground, women from behind are busy selling carpets, while in the background, men wearing traditional headgear, a sort of fez, walk through the crowd. The brisk and concise colour scheme does not linger on the details. The narrative is more documentary than aesthetic, leaving no room for the romantic tensions of a fable-like Orient. In the work one finds an expressive immediacy of great impact, which can also be found in other representations from the 1920s, however, executed in oil on canvas. Market in North Africa can certainly be ascribed to the same period, also given the luministic affinity with other works such as Derna. The Mosque of the Forty-Two Domes.

Most of Mario Ridola’s African works were acquired by the Museo Coloniale in Rome, which later became the Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente and finally the current Museo delle Civiltà. In 2019, the Museum acquired Ridola’s painting Libyan Interior with Figures from the Berardi Gallery, enriching the already considerable portion of the collection dedicated to the author from Campania. The large work documents a typical North African interior, embellished with a red carpet and decorative panels on the walls, which serve as a backdrop for a group of people, perhaps a family, who offer themselves to the painter’s gaze while engaged in daily activities.