Michele Guerrisi

Michele Guerrisi was born in 1893 in Cittanova, in the province of Reggio Calabria, and his origins will acquire a fundamental role in his path. In fact, the artist felt very connected to the culture of Magna Graecia, and the fruits of this connection can be seen in his training and production. He moved to Palmi to attend high school and took his first painting lessons with master Domenico Augimeri, himself a pupil of Domenico Morelli and Filippo Palizzi. At the age of sixteen he settled in Florence with his family and studied at the Galileo Galilei high school, a stage he would consider relevant in his artistic maturation. He then felt the need to deepen his study of classical art by going to Rome, but he failed the entrance exam to the Academy of Fine Arts, and so moved to Naples where he entered the Academy, becoming a student of Achille D’Orsi and Luigi De Luca.

Early exhibition activity and teaching career.

The artist opened his own studio in Naples, choosing one close to that of Vincenzo Gemito, whose friend he became and from whom he learned several lessons.

In 1920 his exhibition activity began, participating with a Ritratto at the Naples Exposition and with Prima ruga at the Venice Biennale. The following year he took part in the Naples National Biennial with the plaster works Ritratto del pittore San Malato, Monumento agli studenti caduti per la patria and Ritratto di Leonida Repaci. Also in 1921 he presented Medusa at the first Roman Art Biennale. Parallel to his sculptural activity he embarked on a teaching career, teaching art history at the Carrara Academy from 1921 to 1922; and then at the Accademia Albertina, where he worked until 1941.

The purity of forms and classical severity

The sculptor is also involved in making several war memorials such as the one in his hometown, or in Montecalvo, Palmi and Catanzaro. In 1926 we find him at the Venice Biennale with a Nude of a Woman. The artist also devoted part of his activity to writing and criticism, and in 1930 he published Discourses on Sculpture, which reflect on what this art is, tracing its history, from the Egyptian era to the contemporary, arriving at the same conclusions as the regime, namely that he wanted to return to the essence and morality of art. In fact, his works are marked by the ideals of classical rigor and harmony and simplicity of form, as can be seen in the works he created for the funeral chapel of the Vaciago family in Turin’s monumental cemetery, particularly the bas-relief depicting the Burial of Christ and the full-round figures of the Resurrection of Lazarus.

The art of portraiture: between physiognomic truth and formal rigor

In 1930 the artist participated in the Sindacale di Torino with Ritratto del pittore Valinotti, and in the Venice Biennale with Ritratto di Emilio Zanzi and Giovinezza. He would then take part in several Fascist Sindacals in Turin: in 1932 he exhibited Ragazza che cammina and Ritratto di I. Cremona; the following year he presented Ritratto di de Chirico; in 1934 he was invited with Ragazza seduta; and in 1935 he participated with Ragazza nuda, Ritratto del Duce and Testa di ragazzo. He thus established himself as a skilled portraitist, capable of faithfully depicting physiognomic details while maintaining classical formal rigor. At the same time he exhibited at the Roman Biennials: in 1931 he presented the plaster Nude of a Woman; in 1935 he exhibited two bronze works, a Portrait and La fanciulla del lago; in 1939 he took part in the Rome Quadriennale with another bronze Portrait ; and in 1943 a one-man show was organized with twelve works among which we find several Portraits in plaster, bronze, wax and terracotta.

Public commissions between Rome and Calabria

In 1941 he settled in Rome because he obtained the chair of sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts, of which he became director in 1952. Also in 1941, he received a commission to work on the statue of Philosophy to be placed at the Palace of Civilizations at Eur. The artist maintains strong relations with his native land, and in 1951 he made eight reliefs for the base of the monument dedicated to Francesco Cilea in Palmi with an archaic style, and the Portrait of Francesco Cilea for Reggio Calabria.

He also continued his activity as a writer, publishing in 1952 in Milan L’idea figurativa and in 1954 in Pisa he gave to the presses L’errore di Cézanne.

During his career he also devoted himself to painting, and some of his oils and watercolors are exhibited at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in 1954.

Later works acquire greater severity as can be seen in the dramatic Deposition made for the church of S. Giovanni Bosco or the decoration of the central door in S. Maria del Popolo. The artist passed away in Rome in 1963 and two years later, as part of the Quadriennale, a short retrospective was dedicated to pay homage to him.

Emanuela Di Vivona