Severini, Gino

Severini, Gino (1883–1966). Italian painter, designer, and writer on art, active for much of his career in Paris. He was born in Cortona, moved to Rome in 1899, and decided to become a painter after meeting Boccioni in 1901. Another important early influence on Severini was Balla, who introduced him to Divisionism. In 1906 he settled in Paris, where he became a friend of his fellow Italian Modigliani, and he played an key role in transmitting the ideas of the French avant-garde to the Futurists. He signed both the Futurist manifestos of painting in 1910 and he remained active in the movement until the First World War. Like other Futurists, he was much concerned with showing movement, but he was distinctive in his subject-matter, favouring scenes of colourful Parisian night life in which—influenced by Cubism—he broke up forms into a multitude of contrasting and interacting shapes suggesting the rhythm of music and dance (Dynamic Hieroglyphic of the Bal Tabarin, MOMA, New York, 1912). His most spectacular work in this vein was The Pan-Pan at the Monico (1911–12, destroyed in the Second World War; second version, 1960, Pompidou Centre, Paris), which Apollinaire described as ‘the most important work painted by a Futurist brush'.

During the First World War Severini was excused military service because of poor health, but he painted some of the most dynamic Futurist pictures inspired by the conflict. In contrast, his other wartime work included still-lifes in the manner of Synthetic Cubism, reflecting his friendship with Gris and Picasso (Still Life, Metropolitan Museum, New York, 1917). In some of his work he came close to pure abstraction, but he was also influenced by the ‘return to order’ (see NEOCLASSICISM) that the war helped to inspire in many avant-garde artists. He became interested in mathematical proportions and compositional rules, publishing a book on the subject in 1921, Du Cubisme au classicisme (a scholarly Italian edition appeared in 1972). In the 1920s his style became more traditional and he carried out several decorative commissions, including murals for churches in Switzerland. He also worked as a theatrical designer. Severini returned to Italy in 1935, but in 1946 he settled permanently in Paris. In the late 1940s his style once again became semi-abstract. His later work included more large-scale decorative work, notably murals in the Palazzo dei Congressi, Rome (1953). His writings include the autobiographical Tutta la vita di un pittore (1946).