An exhibition on Serafino Macchiati's art between impressionism and spiritualism

The art of Serafino Macchiati (Camerino, 1861 - Paris, 1916) takes center stage at the Pinacoteca Comunale “Carlo Servolini” in Collesalvetti (Livorno) with the exhibition Serafino Macchiati: Moi et l’autre. The Frontiers of Impressionism Between Belle Epoque Euphoria and Dramas of the Psyche scheduled from Nov. 9, 2023 to Feb. 29, 2024. The exhibition, curated by Francesca Cagianelli and Silvana Frezza Macchiati, intends to systematically investigate, exactly twenty years after the first prestigious monograph dedicated to the artist from the Marche region, the relationships hitherto partially highlighted by critics, which took place between Serafino Macchiati, Vittore Grubicy de Dragon and the Divisionist entourage from Livorno, with particular reference to Benvenuto Benvenuti.

The research has started from the reconnaissance of the monumental and hitherto only partially probed epistolary preserved at MART (Archivio del ’900, Fondo Grubicy), comprising hundreds of letters, most of them addressed by Macchiati to Grubicy, with the aim of reweaving a broad and articulate art-historical panorama of national and international latitudes, linking the career of the Marche painter, illustrator and graphic designer, with the biography of some of the main exponents of the European critical intelligentsia, from Jules Destréand to Louis Vauxcelles, and of the most accredited coeval French playwrights and poets, from Edmond Rostand to Henri Barbusse, as well as of the most up-to-date exegetes of the International Biennales of Venice, from Vittorio Pica to Francesco Sapori, and, finally, of the protagonists of the events of Italian pointillism and symbolism, starting with Grubicy himself and ending with Giovanni Segantini, Gaetano Previati and Giacomo Balla, the latter a guest for about seven months in the artist’s Parisian residence.

That of Serafino Macchiati is believed to be one of the most intriguing events in Grubicy’s stable, which sees an absolutely equal dialogue unraveling between Vittore and Serafino with respect to the most current of the time, from luminous investigation to the meaning of impression, while the young Marche artist’s ambition for stylistic autonomy grows, increasingly daring opponents of his albeit highly esteemed mentor, but determined to fight “bloody-mindedly” his battle for modernity. Particular emphasis is therefore given in the exhibition itinerary and exhibition catalog to some extremely important biographical stages, first of all the frequentation of Antonio Mancini’s studio, then the cohabitation with Giacomo Balla, then the understanding with Edmond Rostand, as well as the collaboration with the most prestigious national and international magazines, such as “La Tribuna Illustrata,” “Le Figaro Illustré,” “Illustrirte Zeitung,” and “Je sais tout”; the commissioning of the most accredited French publishers of the time, such as Hachette et C.ie, Alphonse Lemerre and Pierre Lafitte.

The exhibition itinerary includes more than 70 works, pictorial and graphic, from important Italian collections, divided into 5 sections, each of which is carved out on the basis of biographical and at the same time stylistic criteria, functional for the exemplification of a path of stylistic evolution that will lead the Marche artist to the threshold of acclaim by the most accredited European critical body.

The first section, titled Under the dazzling light of the dawn of the 20th century, curated by Francesca Cagianelli and Silvana Frezza Macchiati, traces Serafino Macchiati’s tormented and innovative landscape experimentation through the avant-gardes of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, under the aegis of his mentor Vittore Grubicy de Dragon, who would lead him to reflect on the potential of Divisionist language. The cue comes from a letter sent to Vittore Grubicy dated, April 19, 1888 (Archivio del ’900, Mart, Gru.I.1.1.556.), where Macchiati reaffirms the emancipatory status of the contemporary artist, committed to “work today under the dazzling light of the dawn of the twentieth century!” The second section, entitled Making of the living, living that speaks: the dream of a painting transpiring life, curated by Francesca Cagianelli and Silvana Frezza Macchiati, includes the Marche artist’s production addressed to the study of the human figure investigated in the context of luminous scenarios scanned over the different phases of the day, only partly influenced by the impact with Antonio Macini’s painting, which will also constitute for Serafino a decisive impulse toward the so-called “living painting,” whose coordinates are enunciated in a letter addressed to Vittore Grubicy, dated December 21, 1887 (Archivio del ’900, Mart, Gru.I.1.1.556): “To paint - is to approach the creator since true, sublime painting must be the creation of beings - and things - alive palpitating with truth. Oh! How I long to really make this painting that I always dream of - this true painting - making of the living, living that speaks - for one must make a living painting.”

Following this, the third section titled The Contradictions of the Belle Époque from the Conquest of the City to the Exploration of the Psyche, curated by Dario Matteoni, exemplifies, on the basis of extensive bibliographic documentation, the artist’s gradual conversion to the literary universe of the horrid and the rampant fashions of spiritualism, until he landed in the entourage of the contributors to the magazine “Je sais tout,” devising sensational illustrations, unanimously acclaimed by international critics, contemplating the inversion of the editorial routine then in vogue in Belle Époque Paris: in fact, it will be Serafino who will create the drawings for a monograph that was never produced, dedicated to the theme of Fear, whose sketches will be presented at the coeval Parisian Salons. The fourth section, entitled The Battle for the Illustration of Thought: From “La Tribuna Illustrata” to "Je sais tout," curated by Francesca Cagianelli, investigates the strategies of the illustrator Macchiati, who progressively converted, starting precisely from his collaboration with the main Italian and international illustrated magazines, from the so-called “illustration of thought,” characterized by an increasingly shared intimate and pulsing of the literary motivations inherent in the authors of the volumes commissioned from him, with a view to an increasingly convinced creative emancipation destined to result in the rupture of the mechanism of subordination of the status of the decorator of the book with respect to the then dominant role of the writer.

The fifth section, titled Artificial Paradises of Decadence, curated by Emanuele Bardazzi, draws on two iconic paintings executed by Serafino Macchiati during his Parisian years, Morfinomani and Paul Verlaine’s Bibi-la-Purée and Stéphane Mallarmé at the Café Procope. The former, featured in the exhibition, depicts a scene set in an elegant salon with two women devoted to the use of morphine then called la Fée grise, one of the most widespread vices in the Belle Époque years; the latter is related instead to the consumption of absinthe known as la Fée verte, which became a social plague after rampant use, publicized by eye-catching posters. Through magnificent graphic works on the theme created by great artists such as Félicien Rops, Georges De Feure, Albert Besnard and Henry De Groux, the itinerary unfolds following an intriguing fil rouge that lands on the engravings of Jean Veber, Alfredo Müller, Edmond Aman-Jean and Anders Zorn dedicated to the iconography of two spiritual fathers of Decadence, Charles Baudelaire and Paul Verlaine.

Finally, the documentary section, titled Serafino Macchiati decorator of the book, collects some valuable evidence of Macchiati’s activity as an illustrator, starting with the two issues of the French magazine “Je sais tout” published in 1905, containing the serialized novel Moi et l’Autre by Jules Claretie; then the two editions of the same novel published respectively in 1908 (Pierre Lafitte & Cie, Paris) and in 1912 (Collection Illustrée Pierre Lafitte, Paris), respectively; the issue of the magazine “Noi e il Mondo,” printed in 1912 with a refined, hitherto unpublished cover by Serafino Macchiati; a selection of the most famous French novels illustrated by the artist, from the Archive of Silvana Frezza Macchiati; and finally the prestigious edition of the Divine Comedy published by Alinari.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by Silvana Editoriale (Cinisello Balsamo, Milan), edited by Francesca Cagianelli, and is promoted and organized by the Municipality of Collesalvetti, under the patronage of the Region of Tuscany, Municipality of Camerino; with the contribution of the Livorno Foundation; in collaboration with Il Divisionismo - Pinacoteca Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Tortona. The Scientific Committee is composed of Emanuele Bardazzi, art historian; Francesca Cagianelli, art historian, curator of the Pinacoteca Comunale Carlo Servolini; Silvana Frezza Macchiati, curator of the Serafino Macchiati Archive; Dario Matteoni, art historian, director of the Academy of Fine Arts of Pisa, “Alma Artis”; Camilla Testi, translator and essayist, head of the Enrico Piceni Archive, Visiting hours: Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 3:30 to 6:30 pm. Free admission and guided tours by appointment for individual groups: 0586-980251/252 and 392 6025703.

An exhibition on Serafino Macchiati's art between impressionism and spiritualism

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