Giuseppe Migneco was born in Messina on 9th February, 1908. His early childhood was spent in Ponteschiavo, where his father was stationmaster and his mother was an elementary school teacher. He returned to Messina to attend high school where he received his classical studies certificate at the Maurolico Lyceum. In 1931, he moved to Milan to study medicine, but abandoned his studies to devote himself to the profound artistic inspiration that prompted him to leave Sicily. In order to scrape a living in Milan, he undertook illustrative artwork for the “Corriere dei Piccoli”, created advertising sketches for a tie firm and, worked as a retoucher in the Rizzoli e Pizzi & Pizzo factories. In the meanwhile, he continued to paint. The subjects of his paintings are always imbued with autobiographical content and in a style that vaguely recalls Scipione or Sironi.
The discovery of the pictorial world, which he felt hopelessly attracted to, was determined in 1934 by his encounter with Benjamin Joppolo- his former high school friend- who then introduced him to Birolli, De Grada and Sassu, gradually become friends with them. Thanks to the warm encouragement of these friends and attendance of their studies, he began to breathe the strong sense of freedom that their painting is able to communicate. Migneco resumed his painting with renewed spirit and greater confidence, giving life to a Sicily that never lose those characteristics that are inherent in the interiority of the strong, humble, and meaningful characters it describes. In 1937, he was among the founders of the “Current” movement together with Treccani Birolli Cassinari, Saau, De Grada, Valenti, Badocli and Joppolo, and subsequently joined by Guttuso, Vedova, Morlotti as well as the sculptors: Manzù, Fountain, Cherchi, Grosso, Brogini, Pancera and Paganin, and the art critics: Anceschi, Labò, De Micheli, Silva and Bini. “Current” held its first exhibition at the Permanente in Milan, in March, 1939, reuniting members of the out-group so-called “fellow travellers”.
In 1940, Migneco he inaugurated his first solo exhibition at the Genoa Galleria in Genoa di Cairoli. In 1941, he proposed a solo exhibition at the Bottega di Corrente. In 1942, he was present at the Galleria la Spiga. In the same year, he entered his painting “Lizard Hunters” for the Bergamo Prize. As Italy entered the war, exhibitions and activities were still semi-underground events at No.9 Via Spiga, Milan. “Current” managed to survive only until 25th July, 1943. In the same year, he was called to service and had to stop his artistic activity until he could resume in 1945 with an exhibition at the S. Redegonda di Renzo Bertoni gallery, in Milan. In the following years, when his consolidated fame had consecrated him among the masters of contemporary Italian art, he exhibited in the most prestigious National and International galleries, such as Goteborg, Boston, Paris, Stuttgart, New York, Amsterdam, Hamburg and Zurich. In 1958, he participated in the XXIX Venice Biennale.
Giuseppe Migneco died in February, 1997, in Milan.
