The summer exhibition on Plinio Nomellini at Seravezza’s sumptuous Villa Medicea is a must for Versilia vacationers.
Putting together more than 100 works from galleries, museums and private collections took a considerable amount of effort, which explains the extended opening until November 5, enabling as many visitors as possible to dive into the explosion of colours by Nomellini’s palette.
The Livorno-born artist Plinio Nomellini developed his significant turn-of-the-century style under Giovanni Fattori, influenced by his friendships with Silvestro Lega and Telemaco Signorini. His art contains motifs from the Tuscan Macchiaioli movement and the French Impressionists, yet also diverts toward the aesthetic and philosophical trends echoed in the literature of the time. In his own unique way, his works interpret poets Giovanni Pascoli and Gabriele D’Annunzio as well as composers Mascagni and Puccini, whose admiration he enjoyed.
Leading Italian art critic Vittorio Sgarbi attended the exhibition opening, acknowledging Nomellini as “a lyric naturalist imbued by literary suggestions”. His painting is full of chromatic power that explodes in vibrant colour technique. Symbolism and beauty as well as observation of nature and mankind take centre stage with the most enticing light exuding from the canvas.
But the Livorno artist was not only about myth and happiness: Nomellini was also involved with social art. The Diana of Labour is a masterpiece of intensity, conveying the frustration of workers looking for jobs. The profiles of man and boy speak volumes about the social malaise of the 1920s, which led to fatal political changes.
But in another room you find yourself surrounded by the harmony of nature again: the sunsets, pinewoods and people of Versilia are styled with sensual sensibility and passionate participation in a sea of colours expressing the opposite of the ordinary image and interpretation of the world.
Among the many masterpieces, the arresting Red Nymph hangs in powerful contrast with Nocturne, beside one of the neatest and most significant representations of the Tuscan countryside.
Plinio Nomellini
Palazzo Mediceo, viale Leonetto Amadei 230, Seravezza (Lucca)
Until November 5, 2017
+39 0584 757443
www.terremedicee.it
