Flavio Bertelli Explained

Flavio Bertelli (San Lazzaro di Savena, 15 August 1865 – Rimini, 29 December 1941) was an Italian painter.[1]

Flavio Bertelli was among the few exponents of divisionism in the Bolognese area, in addition to Augusto Majani and Alessandro Scorzoni. Furthermore, he belongs to that group of landscape painters of the early 1900s of the "Bolognese School of Painting", such as Luigi Bertelli (Flavio's father), Antonino Sartini, Guglielmo Pizzirani, Giovanni Secchi, Alessandro Scorzoni and Gino Marzocchi, who painted the Emilia-Romagna landscapes, reproducing their beauties and witnessing, with the brush, the changes over time.[2]

Biography

Son of the painter Luigi Bertelli and Matilde Benetti, Flavio Bertelli was born in San Lazzaro di Savena in 1865. The family is wealthy and of a good cultural level: an uncle of Luigi Bertelli, Francesco Bertelli, is a professor of Astronomy at the University of Bologna; one of these sons, Timoteo Bertelli, is a Barnabite father of vast knowledge.[3] He attended the college "Collegio di San Luigi" in Bologna and subsequently the college "Collegio Alle Querce" in Florence, also attending the lessons of Telemaco Signorini, gaining admiration and affection for the teacher. The latter was the painter who had met Manet and Degas personally, he was the most open mind of the whole Macchiaioli movement. Back in Bologna, in 1883 he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts where he remained for only one year, despite the victory of two medals.

In 1885 he abandoned his studies to devote himself to painting and at only twenty-three he participated in the National Exhibition of "Belle Arti" (fine Arts) in Bologna. In 1891 he exhibited the painting Nevicata (snowfall) at the first "Triennale di Brera" (triennial exhibition of Brera) and probably on this occasion he met Vittore Grubicy de Dragon with whom he shared the principles of divisionism. In that same year, following the failure of the family brickyard, Flavio is in a very difficult economic condition. Forced to leave the family home, he moves to an attic of Palazzo Bentivoglio in Bologna, where he later meets Alfredo Baruffi and becomes part of the cenacle of the "Giambardi della Sega", with whom he will share the brief experience of the "Academia (academy) de la Lira". He exhibited at the second "Triennale di Brera" (triennial exhibition of Brera) obtaining great success with critics and in 1895 he took part in the exhibition of the "Society of Francesco Francia", which he would continue to take part in until 1922.In 1898 at the National Exhibition of Turin he presented the great pointillist painting Sera (evening). In 1900 he left Palazzo Bentivoglio to move his studio to via del Poggiale. In the same year he collaborated in the illustration of the magazine "Italia ride" (Italy laughs) and refused the important proposal of the publisher Giulio Ricordi to illustrate musical scores. In 1903 he took part in the LXII Exhibition of the Turin by Società Promotrice delle Belle Arti (Promoting Society of fine Arts) and in 1905 he took care of the decoration of the baptistery of the church of S. Ansano in Pieve del Pino (near Bologna). In 1909 he was appointed academic by the Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna (Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna). In 1915 he finished the painting Oltre il Pincio, considered by critics to be his masterpiece, which cost him years of effort.His passion for divisionism comes to fruition and ends with the spiritual crisis of 1918.[4] In fact, the strong depressive crisis will convince him to abandon the Divisionist technique which requires maximum concentration and long times. Bertelli recovers the post Macchiaioli painting learned in the Florentine years. In 1921 he participated in the 1st Roman Biennial exhibition and in the "Fiorentina primaverile". During the twenties Flavio made several trips between the Italian regions Romagna and the Marche: he stayed in Carpegna, in Montefeltro, in Monghidoro, Pennabilli, Modigliana, Gabicce and Cattolica. In these years he paints many works that he gives to his friends in exchange for hospitality. We know from them that Flavio was a kind and welcome guest: they remember him as a pleasant pianist, a lovable, cultured and reserved person.In 1929 he was hit by a new very serious depressive crisis. Hospitalized in a private clinic, he is forced to leave prematurely because he is unable to pay the costs. He then leaves his studio in "via del Poggiale" and is first a guest in Crespellano by his friend and painter Antonino Sartini, who improvises himself as a merchant to sell him the paintings accumulated over many years and at the same time he convinces him to go back to painting.[5] In 1933 he moved to Cagnona di Bellaria in a humble house with his sister Amalia. During these years he is supported by friends who provide him with the tools and deal with the sale of the paintings. Among these we find his friend and painter Antonino Sartini who continues to help and support him. However, there are others who from Bologna bring brushes, colors and other materials as gifts to the painter, in order to buy Bertelli's paintings at an extremely low price, leaving very little profit margin to the artist. On December 29, 1941, at the age of seventy-six, Bertelli died of a gastric neoplasm at the Rimini Hospital. He is buried in the monumental cemetery of the Certosa di Bologna. However, it is reported in the catalog of the Bertelli Flavio retrospective exhibition of 1952, 1981 and 1991 that: "Il Circolo Artistico di Bologna (The Artistic Circle of Bologna), in the decade of the artist's death, allocates a sum to transport the remains of Flavio Bertelli to Bologna. But arrives late: the bones of Flavio are now confused with those of other poor people in a mass grave in the Rimini Cemetery." In fact, the same Circolo Artistico di Bologna (Artistic Circle of Bologna) wrote in 1952 that: "It was intended to recover the remains of the body, buried in a common field of the cemetery of Rimini, before they were confused with others in the ossuary, and to give them perpetual distinction in our Certosa ... The intervention of the Club did not come in time to save the bones from dispersion."

Style

Flavio Bertelli was one of the main representatives of Bolognese divisionism. Among the most significant pointillist works we remember: Paesaggio (Landscape) (1891), Sera (evening) (1898) and Oltre il Pincio (1915). The depressive crisis of 1918 was followed by the gradual abandonment of the pointillist technique in favor of the recovery of the stain painting learned in the Florentine years by Telemaco Signorini. In the Thirties the painting evaporates becoming less material and letting the support shine through without ever losing the lyricism typical of all his production.[6]

Works (dated)

Works (undated)

Most important exhibitions

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2019-01-17. Flavio Bertelli. 2020-09-27. Il Divisionismo. it-IT.
  2. Web site: Bologna (Italy). Galleria de' Fusari, Dipinti Antichi. Bologna (Italy). Dipinti antichi, Galleria de' Fusari. Fusari. Dipinti Antichi Galleria de'. 2017-11-20. Paesaggisti bolognesi, 1900 – 1950. 2020-09-27. Dipinti Antichi Galleria de` Fusari.
  3. Book: E. Gottarelli (curated by). Flavio Bertelli (1865-1941), catalogo della mostra (exhibition catalog). Bottegantica. 1991. Bologna.
  4. Book: G. Lipparini. Prima Esposizione Nazionale dell'Opera e del Lavoro d'Arte nel Palazzo del Parco di San Gallo a Firenze, catalogo della mostra (exhibition catalog). Società delle Belle Arti di Firenze. 1922. Firenze. under the name Flavio Bertelli, in La fiorentina Primaverile, p.20.
  5. Book: Italo Cinti. Catalogo della mostra retrospettiva di Flavio Bertelli nel decimo anniversario della morte.. 1952. Bologna.
  6. Book: Ingino, Stella. Flavio Bertelli, armoniose visioni di natura 1865-1941. Grafiche dell'Artiere. 2015. 978-88-909463-2-5. Bologna.

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