Luigi Lucioni
American, 1900 - 1988
Born in Malnate, Italy, in 1900, Luigi Lucioni became one of America's well-known landscape painters, whose work has been noted for its heightened realism and photographic attention to detail.
Lucioni immigrated to the United States with his family in 1911. In 1915 he won a competition which allowed him to attend Cooper Union, and he began studying there with William Starkweather.
In 1920, he studied with William Auerbach Levy at the National Academy of Design, and in 1922 was the recipient of a Tiffany Foundation Scholarship. The Fellowship enabled him to go back to his homeland in 1924 to study Italian primitives. He responded immediately to the realism of early Renaissance painting, which left a lasting impression on his work.
As he incorporated realism into his own work, Lucioni's paintings became more meticulous. His crisp, somewhat flat pattern and detail have been likened to the microscopic approach of the fifteenth-century Flemish masters. Lucioni's attention to detail can also be traced to his early work as an etcher in 1922, when he mastered that technique which stresses sharp linear precision, a skill instrumental in developing his precise painting style.
Beginning in 1929, he spent part of each year in Manchester Depot township in Vermont, where he painted still lifes and landscapes of the hills and barns. In the 1930s, while European modernism was gaining momentum in the United States, Lucioni remained committed to realism. His painting Long Island Landscape (oil on canvas, 1930) depicts a nation that has tamed its wilderness. The image shows a field that has been cultivated for decades, a deeply rutted road, and a tired fence; all depictions of a country in the midst of the Depression.
He later taught at the Art Students' League in New York, and maintained a studio in that city's picturesque Washington Square. He also had a longstanding love of the opera, and corresponded with various opera singers, including Giovanni Martinelli, Gladys Swarthout, Cesara Valletti, and others.
He won many honors during his distinguished career. He took first prize in 1939 at the Carnegie International Exhibition for a portrait of Ethel Waters. His 1941 portrait of John La Farge was voted best painting by visitors to the Corcoran Biennial in Washington, D.C. Lucioni was a member of the Society of American Etchers (Brooklyn), and the Allied Art Association.
Despite his lack of conscious effort toward the experimental or avant-garde, Lucioni's work has always been popular. He spent his last years in Union City, New Jersey and died in 1988.
Luigi Lucioni was born on November 4, 1900 in Mainate, near Milan, Italy. He immigrated to the United States with his family in 1911. Continuing his early art studies begun in his native country, he attended Cooper Union, where he was a pupil of William Starkweather, and the National Academy of Design. He was awarded a Tiffany Foundation Fellowship in 1922 to study and travel in Italy, where the realism of early Renaissance painting left a lasting impression on his work. He was an accomplished composer as well as a painter; he was of medium height and was boyish in appearance.
Beginning in 1929, he spent part of each year in Stowe, Vermont, where he painted still lifes and landscapes. In the 1930s while European modernism was gaining momentum in the United States, Lucioni remained committed to realism.
He later taught at the Art Students League in New York and maintained a studio in the Washington Square area of New York. He continued his love for opera; his studio was always alive with personalities of the art and operatic world. Lucioni was an accomplished composer as well as a painter.
He spent his last years in Union City, New Jersey and died in 1988.
Luigi Lucioni, best known for his realist landscapes and still lifes, immigrated to the U.S. in 1911 and settled in New Jersey. Lucioni pursued his interest in art by attending evening courses at Copper Union from 1916-1920, then proceeded to the National Academy of Design from 1920 to 1925, and was awarded the Tiffany Foundation Scholarship, enabling him to return to Italy briefly.
Lucioni established a studio in Washington Square, NYC, where he remained active until 1945.
Lucioni's attention to detail comes as a result of his work as an etcher (1922), which stressed sharp, linear precision. While he was in Italy, Lucioni studied early Renaissance work that left a lasting impression on the artist. His crisp, detailed, flat patterns are similar to 15th century Flemish Masters.
Lucioni won many honors throughout his career and taught portrait painting at the Art Students League in NYC.
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