Migneco Giuseppe

Born in Messina but soon moved to Milan to pursue his artistic aspirations. In this period he began to collaborate as an illustrator for the "Corriere dei Piccoli" and as a retoucher of magazines for Rizzoli, and was also occasionally employed as an advertising graphic designer in a tie company. In the meantime he painted mostly autobiographical subjects. ?His painting took a turning point when, thanks to his friend Beniamino Joppolo, he met Birolli, De Grada and Sassu. Important for this decision was his friendship with Birolli, De Grada, Sassu and Joppolo. Attending their studies, he resumes painting with a new spirit, giving life to the humble characters in which his Sicily will always be recognised. The Sicilian condition, the cry of the humble and desperate, become his poetics.? Over the years the exasperation of color consolidates in him and becomes real organic matter, the signs that furrow the faces of his farmers and the fruits of their labor are strong. The strokes and brushstrokes are so vigorous that they seem engraved on canvas. He was thus recognized as one of the masters of contemporary Italian art and exhibited in the most prestigious galleries: from the Venice Biennale to New York, from Paris to Stuttgart and Amsterdam. His first exhibition was held in 1939 at the Permanente in Milan, where he exhibited his works Dried Flowers, Pianist and Resting Tramps, Horsewoman and Clown. In these years the artist became one of the founders of the Corrente movement which rejected the anti-historicism of fascist celebratory art and the idea of art for art's sake and proposed a greater openness towards new European trends. These theories can be clearly seen within the artistic production of Migneco, who represents in his canvases the simple values deriving from the popular Sicilian world of his childhood; the artist is often inspired by pastoral scenes, fishermen and farmers. In many paintings of this period we can clearly see the constant social denunciation characterized by the use of dramatic and lively colour, inspired by Van Gogh's canvases; examples are paintings such as The Lepers' Pit (1938), Boys under the Fig Tree (1939), Lizard Hunter (1942). After the war Migneco was one of the protagonists of the Neorealist movement always inspired by reality on earth, also influenced by Mexican Muralism. Starting from the 1950s, numerous personal exhibitions followed one another both in Italy and abroad, including exhibitions in Boston, Paris, Hamburg, Amsterdam, New York, Stuttgart and Zurgo. In 1958 he also participated in the XXIX Venice Biennale. The artist died in Milan on 28 February 1997.