Emilio Notte
Ceglie Messapica, Milano, 1891 - Napoli, 1982
He was born to Giovanni Notte, from a wealthy Marosticana family, and Countess Lucinda Chiumenti Fincati of Vicenza. The family moved first to Lagonegro, then to Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, where Notte attended grammar school. The reason for the frequent transfers depends on the activity of his father, Ufficiale del Bollo, that is, manager of the dicastero, corresponding to the present Ministry of Finance.
In any case, precocious is the artistic vocation of little Emilio. Not yet 12 years old, he reveals a natural talent out of the ordinary. Therefore, the family decided to submit little Notte's production to the scrutiny of Vincenzo Volpe, then director of the Naples Institute of Fine Arts (now the Academy), who granted him a studio adjacent to his own and taught him the "craft." Of the Neapolitan artistic environment at the turn of the century Notte does not retain good memories. The only exception is the solitary figure of Michele Cammarano, whom Notte admires for his freedom of expression.
In 1907 the family moved again, this time to Tuscany, to Prato. There Notte meets poet and essayist Bino Binazzi, a discoverer of talent, and Curzio Malaparte. For several months he frequented the studio of Giovanni Fattori, from whom he learned a taste for wide-ranging compositions. It was in Fattori's studio that he came into contact with the lively environment of the "Giovine Etruria," thus with Plinio Nomellini, Galileo Chini and others. Frequentations also extended to Pistoia's artistic intelligence. Notte is at that time a friend of Giovanni Costetti, Renato Fondi, Nannini, Andrea Lippi; he enters the circuit of the magazine "La Tempra," and at the Famiglia Artistica Pistoiese he exhibits together with Rosai, Gigiotti Zanini, Celestini, Chiappelli.
From 1913 onward, through Bino Binazzi, he came into direct contact with the Florentine avant-garde, and assiduously frequented the "Giubbe Rosse" and the Pazkowsky café. He befriended Giuseppe Prezzolini and Aldo Palazzeschi, frequented Giovanni Papini, and Ardengo Soffici. In '13 he met Boccioni, Marinetti, Carrà, Italo Tavolato, and was among the supporters of Futurism at the historic evening at Teatro Verdi. In those days he is accompanied by Emilio Pettoruti, photographer Nunes Vais, Aleardo Xul Solar, and Magnelli. He befriends Luigi Russolo, Ginna and Corra, Maria Ginanni; attends the Theosophical Library and befriends Eva Khun and Amendola. He is friends with Emilio Settimelli, Mario Carli, painters Marasco, Venna, Conti, Baldessari, Lega, Chiti. At the same time he enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. Master Adolfo De Carolis, who considers him a peer, introduced him to Gabriele D'Annunzio, who would visit the young Notte's studio several times, who in the meantime-we are in 1915-had moved to Florence. By this time he was already a well-known painter, having many prestigious exhibitions behind him: among other things, he exhibited at the Promotrice in Florence a work that was purchased by the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Florence and is now in the Pitti Palace. In 1912 he participated in the Venice Biennale; and in '14 he was noticed at the "Secession" in Rome, as the best talent of the "Giovine Etruria." He also won the prestigious Baruzzi Competition (with the work "Il Soldo," adjourned to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bologna).
In 1915 he officially joined the Futurist Movement, but his first Futurist works date from late 1913. So, in Futurist Florence Notte became a point of reference, including in the periodical "L'Italia Futurista," where, among other things, he signed the manifesto "Fondamento Lineare Geometrico" in '17 together with his friend-pupil Lucio Venna. The first Futurist painting purchased by the King of Italy is a work by Emilio Notte. It is The White Road, from '14, now at the Quirinale. These are the years of the Great War and Notte is at the front. He fights on the Karst, is seriously wounded and decorated for valor. During his convalescence at the military hospital in Bologna he made friends with Giorgio Morandi, and with Arturo Martini, whom he would meet again in Milan.
In Milan Notte arrived in 1918. Marinetti immediately introduced him to the salon of Margherita Sarfatti, an inspirational muse whom, however, Notte already knew from his Florentine years. There the painter frequented above all Sironi and Carrà. And then Ada Negri, Serrati, Arturo Martini, Anselmo Bucci, Leonardo Dudreville. He celebrated Severini together with other Futurist friends when the latter came to Milan bringing the wind of Paris. In '19, in Milan, he exhibits one of his Futurist solo shows presented by Marinetti at Galleria Ballerini. Exhibition replicated in Rome by Bragaglia and enthusiastically reviewed by Roberto Longhi. At that time he was tempted by the Dadaist experience and published drawings in "Procellaria"; he frequented the Italian Dadaists Gino Cantarelli, Aldo Fiozzi, Otello Rebecchi, Mario Dessy, and Dario De Tuoni. He also frequents futurist pilot Fedele Azari, Luigi Russolo and musician Alfredo Casella. At the same time he published futurist trichromes in "Poesia," drawings and writings in "Roma Futurista." For some time he moved to Venice where he founded L'Unione Giovani Artisti where he established old and new contacts: Nino Barbantini, Teodoro Wolf Ferrari, Enrico Trois, Ercole Sibellato, Ferruccio Scattola etc. In '20 he organized the historic exhibition of "Dissidents" at 'Ca Pesaro and exhibited together with Felice Casorati, Arturo Martini, Gino Rossi, Scopinich, Pio Semeghini. In Venice he taught at the Liceo artistico, having Afro and Mirko Basaldella among others as students. He returned to Milan until '24, the year he won the National Pension, which allowed him to move to Rome. Meanwhile, he is invited by Prampolini to the Futurist exhibition in Geneva. The Futurist experience ends in '21. He exhibited works of the "return to order" at the first and second Rome Biennale, and obtained more personal rooms at the Florentine "Primaverile" in '22, organized by Sem Benelli.
In Rome between '24 and '26, he teaches figure drawing at the Scuola Libera del nudo in Via Ripetta and has Scipione as his pupil. Still in Rome, Notte meets old and new friends: Ferruccio Ferrazzi, Giorgio De Chirico, Ercole Drei, Carlo Socrate, who is his opposite number at Monte Tarpeo. And then Giacomo Balla, Attilio Torresini, Antonio Maraini, Adolfo De Carolis, Arturo Martini.
In '25 he painted a large fresco in the Villa d'Este, Tivoli. In Rome Notte frequents Bontempelli and enters the atmospheres of Magical Realism.
In '29 he obtained a professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples. He began his magisterium in Naples, where, however, he would not move permanently until '36. In Naples the milieu received him coldly, and indeed for a twenty-year period Notte was subject to constant attacks, private and public, because of his avant-garde teaching. But from Notte derives precisely the modernization of Neapolitan artistic culture.
It was precisely during the first two decades of his magisterium that Notte laid the foundations of the postwar artistic culture that would be able to declare itself in step with other European experiences. It is laborious and underground work, but it is a commitment constantly comforted by the interest of students, who emigrate from other professorships attracted by the international atmosphere at Emilio Notte's school. From '39 to '49 Notte directed the Academy. And from the postwar period until the 1960s, Emilio Notte became the point of reference for the most promising students, that is, those who would go on to win a role on the national and international art scene from the postwar period onward.
Museums:
Florence, Palazzo Pitti
Bologna, Museo di Arte Contemporanea
Bibliography:
Enciclopedia Universale Seda della Pittura Moderna, Milano, Seda, 1969; A. M. Comanducci, Dizionario illustrato dei Pittori, Disegnatori e Incisori Italiani Moderni e Contemporanei, Milano, Luigi Patuzzi Editore, 1972
In any case, precocious is the artistic vocation of little Emilio. Not yet 12 years old, he reveals a natural talent out of the ordinary. Therefore, the family decided to submit little Notte's production to the scrutiny of Vincenzo Volpe, then director of the Naples Institute of Fine Arts (now the Academy), who granted him a studio adjacent to his own and taught him the "craft." Of the Neapolitan artistic environment at the turn of the century Notte does not retain good memories. The only exception is the solitary figure of Michele Cammarano, whom Notte admires for his freedom of expression.
In 1907 the family moved again, this time to Tuscany, to Prato. There Notte meets poet and essayist Bino Binazzi, a discoverer of talent, and Curzio Malaparte. For several months he frequented the studio of Giovanni Fattori, from whom he learned a taste for wide-ranging compositions. It was in Fattori's studio that he came into contact with the lively environment of the "Giovine Etruria," thus with Plinio Nomellini, Galileo Chini and others. Frequentations also extended to Pistoia's artistic intelligence. Notte is at that time a friend of Giovanni Costetti, Renato Fondi, Nannini, Andrea Lippi; he enters the circuit of the magazine "La Tempra," and at the Famiglia Artistica Pistoiese he exhibits together with Rosai, Gigiotti Zanini, Celestini, Chiappelli.
From 1913 onward, through Bino Binazzi, he came into direct contact with the Florentine avant-garde, and assiduously frequented the "Giubbe Rosse" and the Pazkowsky café. He befriended Giuseppe Prezzolini and Aldo Palazzeschi, frequented Giovanni Papini, and Ardengo Soffici. In '13 he met Boccioni, Marinetti, Carrà, Italo Tavolato, and was among the supporters of Futurism at the historic evening at Teatro Verdi. In those days he is accompanied by Emilio Pettoruti, photographer Nunes Vais, Aleardo Xul Solar, and Magnelli. He befriends Luigi Russolo, Ginna and Corra, Maria Ginanni; attends the Theosophical Library and befriends Eva Khun and Amendola. He is friends with Emilio Settimelli, Mario Carli, painters Marasco, Venna, Conti, Baldessari, Lega, Chiti. At the same time he enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. Master Adolfo De Carolis, who considers him a peer, introduced him to Gabriele D'Annunzio, who would visit the young Notte's studio several times, who in the meantime-we are in 1915-had moved to Florence. By this time he was already a well-known painter, having many prestigious exhibitions behind him: among other things, he exhibited at the Promotrice in Florence a work that was purchased by the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Florence and is now in the Pitti Palace. In 1912 he participated in the Venice Biennale; and in '14 he was noticed at the "Secession" in Rome, as the best talent of the "Giovine Etruria." He also won the prestigious Baruzzi Competition (with the work "Il Soldo," adjourned to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bologna).
In 1915 he officially joined the Futurist Movement, but his first Futurist works date from late 1913. So, in Futurist Florence Notte became a point of reference, including in the periodical "L'Italia Futurista," where, among other things, he signed the manifesto "Fondamento Lineare Geometrico" in '17 together with his friend-pupil Lucio Venna. The first Futurist painting purchased by the King of Italy is a work by Emilio Notte. It is The White Road, from '14, now at the Quirinale. These are the years of the Great War and Notte is at the front. He fights on the Karst, is seriously wounded and decorated for valor. During his convalescence at the military hospital in Bologna he made friends with Giorgio Morandi, and with Arturo Martini, whom he would meet again in Milan.
In Milan Notte arrived in 1918. Marinetti immediately introduced him to the salon of Margherita Sarfatti, an inspirational muse whom, however, Notte already knew from his Florentine years. There the painter frequented above all Sironi and Carrà. And then Ada Negri, Serrati, Arturo Martini, Anselmo Bucci, Leonardo Dudreville. He celebrated Severini together with other Futurist friends when the latter came to Milan bringing the wind of Paris. In '19, in Milan, he exhibits one of his Futurist solo shows presented by Marinetti at Galleria Ballerini. Exhibition replicated in Rome by Bragaglia and enthusiastically reviewed by Roberto Longhi. At that time he was tempted by the Dadaist experience and published drawings in "Procellaria"; he frequented the Italian Dadaists Gino Cantarelli, Aldo Fiozzi, Otello Rebecchi, Mario Dessy, and Dario De Tuoni. He also frequents futurist pilot Fedele Azari, Luigi Russolo and musician Alfredo Casella. At the same time he published futurist trichromes in "Poesia," drawings and writings in "Roma Futurista." For some time he moved to Venice where he founded L'Unione Giovani Artisti where he established old and new contacts: Nino Barbantini, Teodoro Wolf Ferrari, Enrico Trois, Ercole Sibellato, Ferruccio Scattola etc. In '20 he organized the historic exhibition of "Dissidents" at 'Ca Pesaro and exhibited together with Felice Casorati, Arturo Martini, Gino Rossi, Scopinich, Pio Semeghini. In Venice he taught at the Liceo artistico, having Afro and Mirko Basaldella among others as students. He returned to Milan until '24, the year he won the National Pension, which allowed him to move to Rome. Meanwhile, he is invited by Prampolini to the Futurist exhibition in Geneva. The Futurist experience ends in '21. He exhibited works of the "return to order" at the first and second Rome Biennale, and obtained more personal rooms at the Florentine "Primaverile" in '22, organized by Sem Benelli.
In Rome between '24 and '26, he teaches figure drawing at the Scuola Libera del nudo in Via Ripetta and has Scipione as his pupil. Still in Rome, Notte meets old and new friends: Ferruccio Ferrazzi, Giorgio De Chirico, Ercole Drei, Carlo Socrate, who is his opposite number at Monte Tarpeo. And then Giacomo Balla, Attilio Torresini, Antonio Maraini, Adolfo De Carolis, Arturo Martini.
In '25 he painted a large fresco in the Villa d'Este, Tivoli. In Rome Notte frequents Bontempelli and enters the atmospheres of Magical Realism.
In '29 he obtained a professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples. He began his magisterium in Naples, where, however, he would not move permanently until '36. In Naples the milieu received him coldly, and indeed for a twenty-year period Notte was subject to constant attacks, private and public, because of his avant-garde teaching. But from Notte derives precisely the modernization of Neapolitan artistic culture.
It was precisely during the first two decades of his magisterium that Notte laid the foundations of the postwar artistic culture that would be able to declare itself in step with other European experiences. It is laborious and underground work, but it is a commitment constantly comforted by the interest of students, who emigrate from other professorships attracted by the international atmosphere at Emilio Notte's school. From '39 to '49 Notte directed the Academy. And from the postwar period until the 1960s, Emilio Notte became the point of reference for the most promising students, that is, those who would go on to win a role on the national and international art scene from the postwar period onward.
Museums:
Florence, Palazzo Pitti
Bologna, Museo di Arte Contemporanea
Bibliography:
Enciclopedia Universale Seda della Pittura Moderna, Milano, Seda, 1969; A. M. Comanducci, Dizionario illustrato dei Pittori, Disegnatori e Incisori Italiani Moderni e Contemporanei, Milano, Luigi Patuzzi Editore, 1972
