Antonio Sicurezza
Encyclopedia
Antonio Sicurezza was an Italian painter
representative for the contemporary figurative art
of the Lazio region, Italy.
, winning a scholarship as a worthy competitor among the four faculties. He obtained the diploma in painting under the guidance of the masters Carlo Siviero, Vincenzo Volpe, Vincenzo Migliaro
and Paolo Vetri.
The first contact with the territory of Formia
was in 1933–1934, when he was called to paint the chapel of St. Anthony
in the church of Maranola. Here he met Virginia Mastrogiovanni that he married in 1934.
, then passing through the war front down in Calabria
. At the end of the war the family came back to Formia
.
The churches were destroyed or damaged. In Saint Teresa
the Angels playing music fresco that the artist painted for the chapel of Our Lady of Pompeii ended up in fragments, while two ovals depicting Pope Leo XIII and Blessed Bartolo Longo
are found in the rubble.
The search for new customers for the altar, replacing the ones destroyed, it is not easy for both the difficult economic situation and the clergy that requires religious representations in line with the traditional iconography, which the artist agrees not to foreclose future commissions.
, St. Albina in the church of Saint Erasmus, and then, above all, the St. Francis
and the Announced at Our Lady of Caramel and San Roque
in Pico
. It is valuable to note that in the landscape behind the figures the painter represents in a deliberately simple manner, so that the faithful can recognize immediately the local sights and monuments, as in St. Albina and in St. Francis
, in which it is particularly significant the view of the large Gaeta
gulf.
In the summer he works outside to paint landscapes and alleys, while during the rest of year he works mainly with charcoal and watercolors or tempera. He produces sketches and studies for works commissioned by religious or paints still lives depicting with immediacy and lightness, but not fulfilling his desire to build the representation in the atmosphere and placing it in the light.
After the summer of 1965 he left teaching and set up the large study that, among carob trees and prickly pears, he had built on the land of Santa Maria la Noce. It is now easier to prepare sketches and large cartoons for religious works and then - limiting the charcoal and pastel studies - he can systematically focus on oil painting, especially of the human figure and still life.
In fact the style change, which makes him prefer oil painting and sees the use of systematic and almost exclusive spatula instead of a brush, occurs in the late Fifties. Part of the paintings exhibited in Rome in July 1961, including two paintings that were awarded to the contemporary art exhibition held in Turin
in the context of the events of Italy '61, already put in evidence the use of the trowel to illustrate the human figure and objects.
In the following years he devoted a greater commitment to personal and collective exhibitions, with a lack of direction, without referring to a gallery or an agent and tied to a provincial reality. Despite this, there are several distinctions and awards, and news about him with reproductions of his works are found in various catalogs of contemporary artists.
With the advancing age, Antonio Sicurezza and his wife moved to the center of Formia
. The last house is more chaotic for the desire of finding the proper window light for each painting. Yet, despite his age and disorder, the work is intense. To complete a painting he takes around five sessions, which means at least two new works every week. He works both mornings and afternoons, often devoting first energies to harder works as the naked human figures. In the living room the walls are covered with framed paintings, while others are simply placed in the corners. It is here that are received friends and admirers. It is of this period the groups of young people with musical instruments that the artist calls concerts, many nudes, vigorous still lives and some outside scenes.
Exceptionally, in August 1978 Antonio Sicurezza does not go to Santa Maria Capua Vetere
for the annual meeting of the Assumption
. It is the beginning of the sickness that, a year later, August 29, 1979, will bring to die at the age of 74 years.
His style reaches maturity based on two fundamental elements: the physical construction of the subject, with increasing use of the spatula to distribute and overlay color, and the mention of the deliberately unfinished around the main theme. The result of all this is a subjective realism. Through the filter of the artist, the performance is careful and accurate for its main theme and the parties to which are assigned a significant role. The same performance is tempered and sometimes only mentioned in the rest of the composition.
Two other considerations must be made: color and atmosphere. Sicurezza manifests for the color a particular passion and he accepts difficult challenges. The atmosphere should be clarified as a physical fact: the atmosphere of the corner of the world where the painter lived and characterized by an extraordinary transparency and brightness, and in which the subjects of his paintings systematically lie, receiving security and serenity.
Antonio Sicurezza, in a century that profoundly transforms reality, puts himself stubbornly in the vein of realism. The artist, at once humble and stubborn, finds the formula of expression in ancient heritage but with original and modern execution.
"The result reached by Antonio Sicurezza is the result of his research, where the responsiveness of more accurate technical means resolves the discovery of the deeper meaning of reality. Therefore, an understanding that surpasses all interpretations animates his painting, to respect it in its entirety. For this reason, in its naked flesh, the more flesh it is, the more chaste"(Luigi Volpicelli).
Elio Marciano for the female nude observes that "the earthly reality of the fine figures of young girls is filled with love of classical perfection of chaste nudity." Guido Bernardi instead puts its focus on humble objects represented in the paintings of the painter, who, "with a wonderful insight figured object, is able to convey continuous points of joy and reflection".
Mario Lepore ascribes to the works of Antonio Sicurezza "the solidity of a job not only well known but also rich in resources and, most importantly, that shows a genuine temperament, from the narrative paintings skills. The quality of design and composition, sensitivity to color and light, reality probate but also poetically observed, often allow him to achieve beautiful accents".
Other critical interventions are often united by a thin thread that identifies values early in the artist and natural attachment to popular traditions, moral honesty, humility and frank simplicity.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
representative for the contemporary figurative art
Figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork—particularly paintings and sculptures—which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational.-Definition:...
of the Lazio region, Italy.
Biography
He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in NaplesNaples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, winning a scholarship as a worthy competitor among the four faculties. He obtained the diploma in painting under the guidance of the masters Carlo Siviero, Vincenzo Volpe, Vincenzo Migliaro
Vincenzo Migliaro
Vincenzo Migliaro was an Italian painter.-Biography:After learning the art of wood carving at courses held by the Società Centrale Operaia Napoletana and working in the studio of Stanislao Lista, Migliaro enrolled in 1875 at the Naples Institute of Fine Arts, where his masters included Domenico...
and Paolo Vetri.
The first contact with the territory of Formia
Formia
Formia is a city and comune in the province of Latina, on the Mediterranean coast of Lazio . It is located halfway between Rome and Naples, and lies on the Roman-era Appian Way.-History:...
was in 1933–1934, when he was called to paint the chapel of St. Anthony
Anthony of Padua
Anthony of Padua or Anthony of Lisbon, O.F.M., was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. Though he died in Padua, Italy, he was born to a wealthy family in Lisbon, Portugal, which is where he was raised...
in the church of Maranola. Here he met Virginia Mastrogiovanni that he married in 1934.
War and reconstruction
In the hardest times of the war the family, now composed of four children, was forced to flee first into the cave in the mountains in the territory of Coreno AusonioCoreno Ausonio
Coreno Ausonio is a comune in the Province of Frosinone in the Italian region Lazio, located about 120 km southeast of Rome and about 50 km southeast of Frosinone at the foot of Monte Maio, in the Monti Aurunci....
, then passing through the war front down in Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
. At the end of the war the family came back to Formia
Formia
Formia is a city and comune in the province of Latina, on the Mediterranean coast of Lazio . It is located halfway between Rome and Naples, and lies on the Roman-era Appian Way.-History:...
.
The churches were destroyed or damaged. In Saint Teresa
Saint Teresa
Saint Teresa may refer to:*Saint Teresa of Ávila , founder of the Reformed Carmelites, and Doctor of the Church*Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, O.C.D...
the Angels playing music fresco that the artist painted for the chapel of Our Lady of Pompeii ended up in fragments, while two ovals depicting Pope Leo XIII and Blessed Bartolo Longo
Bartolo Longo
Blessed Bartolo Longo was a Satanist priest who later repented and became a lay Dominican, dedicating his life to the Virgin Mary. He was eventually awarded a papal knighthood.-Early years:...
are found in the rubble.
The search for new customers for the altar, replacing the ones destroyed, it is not easy for both the difficult economic situation and the clergy that requires religious representations in line with the traditional iconography, which the artist agrees not to foreclose future commissions.
The artistic maturity
When Antonio Sicurezza can finally express himself more freely, he has artistically valuable results, such as the works of the apse of St. JohnJohn the Apostle
John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...
, St. Albina in the church of Saint Erasmus, and then, above all, the St. Francis
St. Francis
St. Francis may refer to a number of Roman Catholic saints:*St Francis of Assisi , Italian founder of the Order of Friars Minor *St Francis of Paola , Italian founder of the Order of the Minims...
and the Announced at Our Lady of Caramel and San Roque
San Roque
San Roque may refer to:Places* San Roque, Antioquia, a place in Colombia* San Roque, Cádiz, a place in Spain* San Roque, California, a residential neighborhood in Santa Barbara, California in the United States...
in Pico
Pico
Pico- is a prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of 10−12 or .Derived from the Italian piccolo, meaning small, this was one of the original 12 prefixes defined in 1960 when the International System of Units was established....
. It is valuable to note that in the landscape behind the figures the painter represents in a deliberately simple manner, so that the faithful can recognize immediately the local sights and monuments, as in St. Albina and in St. Francis
St. Francis
St. Francis may refer to a number of Roman Catholic saints:*St Francis of Assisi , Italian founder of the Order of Friars Minor *St Francis of Paola , Italian founder of the Order of the Minims...
, in which it is particularly significant the view of the large Gaeta
Gaeta
Gaeta is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples....
gulf.
After the summer of 1965 he left teaching and set up the large study that, among carob trees and prickly pears, he had built on the land of Santa Maria la Noce. It is now easier to prepare sketches and large cartoons for religious works and then - limiting the charcoal and pastel studies - he can systematically focus on oil painting, especially of the human figure and still life.
In fact the style change, which makes him prefer oil painting and sees the use of systematic and almost exclusive spatula instead of a brush, occurs in the late Fifties. Part of the paintings exhibited in Rome in July 1961, including two paintings that were awarded to the contemporary art exhibition held in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
in the context of the events of Italy '61, already put in evidence the use of the trowel to illustrate the human figure and objects.
In the following years he devoted a greater commitment to personal and collective exhibitions, with a lack of direction, without referring to a gallery or an agent and tied to a provincial reality. Despite this, there are several distinctions and awards, and news about him with reproductions of his works are found in various catalogs of contemporary artists.
The intensive production in the last years
Formia
Formia is a city and comune in the province of Latina, on the Mediterranean coast of Lazio . It is located halfway between Rome and Naples, and lies on the Roman-era Appian Way.-History:...
. The last house is more chaotic for the desire of finding the proper window light for each painting. Yet, despite his age and disorder, the work is intense. To complete a painting he takes around five sessions, which means at least two new works every week. He works both mornings and afternoons, often devoting first energies to harder works as the naked human figures. In the living room the walls are covered with framed paintings, while others are simply placed in the corners. It is here that are received friends and admirers. It is of this period the groups of young people with musical instruments that the artist calls concerts, many nudes, vigorous still lives and some outside scenes.
Exceptionally, in August 1978 Antonio Sicurezza does not go to Santa Maria Capua Vetere
Santa Maria Capua Vetere
-External links:*...
for the annual meeting of the Assumption
Assumption
In logic an assumption is a proposition that is taken for granted, as if it were true based upon presupposition without preponderance of the facts...
. It is the beginning of the sickness that, a year later, August 29, 1979, will bring to die at the age of 74 years.
Critical analysis
The poetics of painting by Antonio Sicurezza is of course based on values indispensable for him: the respect of human dignity and the sacredness of work. The artist continued to explore and experiment with constant application for many years to reach its capacity of synthesis in painting.His style reaches maturity based on two fundamental elements: the physical construction of the subject, with increasing use of the spatula to distribute and overlay color, and the mention of the deliberately unfinished around the main theme. The result of all this is a subjective realism. Through the filter of the artist, the performance is careful and accurate for its main theme and the parties to which are assigned a significant role. The same performance is tempered and sometimes only mentioned in the rest of the composition.
Two other considerations must be made: color and atmosphere. Sicurezza manifests for the color a particular passion and he accepts difficult challenges. The atmosphere should be clarified as a physical fact: the atmosphere of the corner of the world where the painter lived and characterized by an extraordinary transparency and brightness, and in which the subjects of his paintings systematically lie, receiving security and serenity.
Antonio Sicurezza, in a century that profoundly transforms reality, puts himself stubbornly in the vein of realism. The artist, at once humble and stubborn, finds the formula of expression in ancient heritage but with original and modern execution.
"The result reached by Antonio Sicurezza is the result of his research, where the responsiveness of more accurate technical means resolves the discovery of the deeper meaning of reality. Therefore, an understanding that surpasses all interpretations animates his painting, to respect it in its entirety. For this reason, in its naked flesh, the more flesh it is, the more chaste"(Luigi Volpicelli).
Elio Marciano for the female nude observes that "the earthly reality of the fine figures of young girls is filled with love of classical perfection of chaste nudity." Guido Bernardi instead puts its focus on humble objects represented in the paintings of the painter, who, "with a wonderful insight figured object, is able to convey continuous points of joy and reflection".
Mario Lepore ascribes to the works of Antonio Sicurezza "the solidity of a job not only well known but also rich in resources and, most importantly, that shows a genuine temperament, from the narrative paintings skills. The quality of design and composition, sensitivity to color and light, reality probate but also poetically observed, often allow him to achieve beautiful accents".
Other critical interventions are often united by a thin thread that identifies values early in the artist and natural attachment to popular traditions, moral honesty, humility and frank simplicity.