Noel Quintavalle called Noelqui

Noël Quintavalle was born in Ferrara in 1893 and his first contact with art was in the field of architecture. In fact, he studied architecture at the Brera Academy in Milan, once he had moved to the Lombard city with his family. Only later did he approach painting, but completely self-taught, as he himself states, and Noëlqui was to be the signature he chose and appeared in all his works. His debut as a painter took place in 1917 at the Permanente in Milan with Ortensie. Then the following year he took part in the Milan National Biennial held at Brera at the end of the First World War.

The Great War and its tale through the works of Noëlqui

Noël Quintavalle lived the tragic experience of the Great War at first hand, enlisting in the ranks of the Alpine Corps, fighting in the Julian Alps, and receiving numerous awards and commendations at the end of the conflict. During the wartime tragedy, he suffered a bad foot injury that forced him to stop and he decided to exorcise the moment through painting and writing. He recounted the bewildering experience of the trenches in a number of writings including La sfinge domata (The Taming of the Sphinx), I figli della montagna (Children of the Mountain), I tre canti eterni – all’ombra del Monte Nero scrissi (In the Shadow of Mount Black I Wrote).

At the solo exhibition organised in 1919 at the Lyceum Femminile in Milan, he exhibited a series of works that were painted, drawn or sculpted during the leave granted to him due to his war injury, including Quiete, Il cipresso e la strada, Il vecchio, Marina, Aurora, Collina nel grigio, Impressioni dal vero, Ritratti and the triptych La visione del passato.

The exhibition activity of Noël Quintavalle

In 1918, Noël Quintavalle moved to Alassio, a town on the Ligurian coast, where he met and married Gina Mascardi, but Milan would always be his city of reference from a professional point of view. Here he participated in the Exhibition of Contemporary Female Portraits held at Villa Reale in Monza in 1924, exhibiting Simonne D. In 1927 he exhibited Mattino a Ca’ Barbaro, Penombre dell’adolescenza and Nudino at the Esposizione degli Artisti Combattenti d’Italia held at the Palazzo della Permanente in Milan. In 1929 he was among the exhibiting artists at the Exhibition of Contemporary Italian Artists with the work Sisters; and in 1930 he participated in the National Art and Painting Convention with the work The Ribbon.

During these years, the artist also collaborated with art magazines and newspapers, becoming Director of the ‘Famiglia Artistica’ in Milan and Secretary of the ‘Camerata Artisti Combattenti d’Italia’. Noëlqui also carried out an intense literary activity, publishing several volumes of short stories, satires, war memoirs and lyrics or illustrated fairy tales for children. He also produced sculptures and woodcuts.

In the 1930s, however, he came into conflict with the art world and the numerous querelles that characterised it, so he decided to move away from it, always exhibiting in group exhibitions. From then on, the artist continued on his path alone, organising solo exhibitions in various Italian and foreign cities.

In 1933, an exhibition was dedicated to Noëlqui together with Domenico De Bernardi in Milan in which the artist presented 81 works including: Gladioli, Amarillis, La vecchia signora, La ballerina bruna, Prima del ballo, Piccola ballerina, Pieve a Maiano – Mezzogiorno, Cipressi sotto la fortezza di Arezzo, Magnolie, Bambina bionda and many studies of heads and dancers.

Noël Quintavalle then moved to South America for a few years and exhibited in Buenos Aires, Caracas, Montevideo, New York and London. He then returned definitively to Italy and settled in Alassio, where he died in 1977.

Noëlqui’s perceptive sensitivity

Noëlqui’s favourite subjects are nature and human figures, especially dancers or female portraits. His early works are characterised by the influence of Divisionist and Symbolist painting such as First Weapons, Mystique, the sculpture The Thought or the watercolour Satanica exhibited at his solo exhibition in 1919. The subjects are treated in a pulviscular and undefined manner.

Towards the end of the 1920s, however, some works, such as the aforementioned Le sorelle of 1929, or Donna e Gatto (Woman and Cat), the latter exhibited at the Galleria Casa Varesina d’arte in 1970, show a move towards the canons of the return to order with greater attention to the definition of volumes and light.

“But every leaf that is reborn is new, even though it is the same as the others; but every little snow star that falls is different from the others; but every drop of water that runs has a shape all its own: but every painting that is born is new… […] I am simply a sincere person who translates as directly as possible onto canvas what he sees and feels.”[1]

Emanuela Di Vivona

[1] Noëlqui (Noel Quintavalle) – Esposizione d’Arte, Exhibition Catalogue (Milan, April – May 1919), Lyceum Femminile, Milan, 1919, pp. 5 and 7