Eugenio Polesello

The Portrait

by Gabriella Serravalle

Born in Pordenone on July 7, 1895, into a quiet Friulian merchant family with no previous artistic ambitions, Eugenio Polesello completed his training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice as a student of Guglielmo Ciardi and Ettore Tito.

Eugenio Polesello attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice where he studied under Guglielmo Ciardi. The outbreak of World War I, during which he served in the air force, interrupted his studies, which he later resumed under the guidance of Ettore Tito. Remaining in Venice for several more years, he participated in the Ca’ Pesaro exhibitions between 1922 and 1925, and subsequently in various national group shows. Toward the end of the 1920s, he was invited to Milan by the publisher Rizzoli to illustrate the landscapes of Italy. In 1928, he staged his first solo exhibition in the city at the Galleria Michieli. In 1931, at the invitation of the Dante Alighieri Society, he went to Paris to exhibit a series of Italian landscapes, followed in 1933 by his first solo show at the Galerie Charpentier. Numerous exhibitions in Italy and abroad followed. In 1961, the first monograph dedicated to his work was published. In 1967, on the occasion of a solo exhibition held at the Galleria Sagittaria in Pordenone, the mayor awarded him the municipality's gold medal and honorary citizenship. A few years later, he received further recognition with the San Marco Prize, awarded to the distinguished citizens of Pordenone. Polesello died in Turin on February 25, 1983.

His painting reflects the luminist qualities of the Venetian school, as well as the reflective and suspended tone his work adopted following World War II.

His palette during the 1920s consisted of dense, thick colors applied to the canvas with a palette knife rather than a brush; his paintings were beautiful in texture and pictorial luminosity, yet perhaps too "unrefined" and reliant on easy effects. It was precisely this unique style that persuaded the publisher Rizzoli to commission him to illustrate Italy's most famous landscapes for a series of artistic postcards, which brought him widespread popularity. This marked the beginning of a busy period traveling across the peninsula aboard the "red lobster," the car that made him a well-known figure in the Dolomite valleys—his favorite subjects. "The Dolomites, the lagoon, the streets and canals of Venice are recurring motifs in his painting, which is a balanced synthesis of color and volume" (A. Carpi). An artist of European stature, his work is held in collections worldwide. His works are also featured in the Civic Museum of Pordenone. Recipient of the San Marco Prize, 1972.

(Pordenone 7.7.1895 - Turin 25.2.1983)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Volti arte, I volti dell'arte. Autoritratti e ritratti d'artista nel Friuli occidentale (1882-1984), Pordenone 2005

Eugenio Polesello, Eugenio Polesello, Turin 1991

Eugenio Polesello, Eugenio Polesello a Palazzo Candiani, Pordenone 1975