A forgotten 20th century on display in Ascoli: the works of Dyalma Stultus at the Pinacoteca

An exhibition dedicated to a forgotten artist of the twentieth century, the Triestine Dyalma St ultus (Trieste, 1901 - Darfo Boario, 1977): until October 30, the Pinacoteca Civica of Ascoli Piceno, as part of the La Milanesiana review conceived and directed by Elisabetta Sgarbi, is in fact hosting the exhibition Dyalma Stultus. Works from the Cavallini Sgarbi Foundation. Curated by Vittorio Sgarbi, the exhibition presents 14 unpublished or rarely seen works by Dyalma Stultus.

“Dyalma Stultus owes to Trieste her birthplace, her family affections, her first cultural and sentimental formation, but not only that,” says Vittorio Sgarbi. “Thus Stultus’s way of understanding art finds consonances in that of other Triestines of her time (Sbisà and Croatto), but it is in Florence that Stultus acquires a new, national sense of measure. The nude women portrayed by Stultus are only seemingly popular, with their hair up and eyebrows thinned according to the bourgeois fashion of the time, they avoid the direct gaze because their mission is not to seduce, they suggest the esprit de géométrie that in nature everything holds, in an open homage to Cezanne. In the postwar period, the era changes but Stultus’s research continues to pursue the balance of nature between color and drawing, light and shadow, France and Italy: today, thanks to Milanesiana, Stultus lives again in Ascoli, and shows himself as an eternal absolute painter.”

“Dyalma Stultus (1901-1977) is a sophisticated and intriguing painter, highly cultured and isolated, who was against all ’isms’: a truly fascinating protagonist of the Italian twentieth century,” says Lucio Scardino, “An exhibition of 14 paintings by the Cavallini Sgarbi Foundation, unpublished or rarely seen, is forthcoming about him. Curated by art historian Lucio Scardino, the exhibition will be held at the Pinacoteca Civica in Ascoli Piceno starting next June. Datable from the 1930s to the 1970s, the paintings offer his limpidly figurative vision, far removed from the avant-garde, trained in Austrian Trieste, educated at the Venice Academy and landed in refined post-World War II Florence. Views of the Tuscan countryside or the most bewitching Capri, charmingly allegorical or robustly Novecentrist compositions, psychologically apt mulieval portraits, Stultus’ paintings always reveal impeccable craftsmanship, are academically well thought out, at the cost of being capriciously academic, juxtaposing the figure of the Triestine with that of great masters as ’reactionary’ as they are wise, such as Annigoni, Funi or Sciltian.”

“An important Triestine painter Dyalma Stultus (1901 / 1977), with a nucleus of works donated to Vittorio Sgarbi as President of the Cavallini Sgarbi Foundation,” says Elisabetta Sgarbi, "In the paintings one can feel the wind of Trieste, which cleans the sky is makes the shapes sharp and the colors bright and garish.

Exhibition design Luca Volpatti.

The exhibition is in collaboration with Regione Marche, Municipality of Ascoli Piceno, Fondazione Carisap, Marche Chamber of Commerce,Circolo Cultural-mente Insieme, Fainsplast and Ciaccio Arte.

The catalogs of the eight exhibitions hosted by La Milanesiana this year are published by the Fondazione Elisabetta Sgarbi.

For all information, you can visit the official website of La Milanesiana.

A forgotten 20th century on display in Ascoli: the works of Dyalma Stultus at the Pinacoteca

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