Filippo Boldini (1900-1989)

Filippo Boldini (Paradiso 1900 - Lugano 1989) is a much-loved and collected artist in our latitudes and exhibitions and publications have been dedicated to him.

The exhibition retraces Boldini's entire career, touching on all the themes he loved: flowers, still lifes, figures, religious themes, landscapes, from the works of the 1930s, still in a naturalistic vein, to the "Novecento" phase and then the Cubist phase, up to the soft and fuzzy atmospheres of the 1980s. The reference points dear to him are the Tuscan Quattrocento, Cézanne, Braque, but also Giorgio Morandi, the Italian Novecento and Carlo Carrà.

For the choice of the works, it was decided to make a selection from the rich collections donated by the painter to Lugano's public collections: around two hundred and eighty paintings and drawings to the Municipality of Paradiso, around twenty to the City of Lugano and to the State, with the addition of some purchases made by the latter. In the catalogue published to accompany the exhibition, the complete and illustrated inventory of these bequests is presented for the first time.

Also presented are sixteen sketches from a private collection - almost all of them previously unpublished - that he produced between the 1930s and the early 1960s, documenting a little-known aspect of his work, such as his participation in competitions for the mural decoration of public buildings. A parallel activity to easel painting that, together with other occupations such as the creation of mosaics and reliefs, including for funerary monuments, or restoration, marked a large part of the artistic career of many artists in decades marked by a difficult economic situation.

Boldini led a secluded and quiet life, far from worldliness, surrounded by family affection and trusted friends. In 1927 a daughter, Anna, familiarly known as Annaly, was born to his wife Marily. The little girl was portrayed several times by her father and an entire section was dedicated to her in the exhibition. In 1945, Annaly began to show signs of the degenerative disease that would lead to her paralysis and death at the age of just twenty-six, in 1953, leaving an indelible mark on her affectionate father's soul.

Shy, reserved, solitary but not isolated and, on the contrary, a lover of conversations with friends, Boldini built up a network of solid relationships over the course of his long life with critics, intellectuals, writers, painters and sculptors who appreciated his qualities as a man and artist. Space has therefore been dedicated to reconstructing this environment of esteem and sharing by tracing works donated as a sign of affection to personalities such as Virgilio Gilardoni, Piero Bianconi, Adriano Soldini, Mario Agliati, Remo Beretta, Giorgio Orelli, Eros Bellinelli, Mario Barzaghini, Angelo and Pierre Casè, and Giovanni Genucchi, to name but a few. In many cases they are presented to the public for the first time.