Arcadia – (Carlo Levi) ◄ Previous Next ►

Artist: Carlo Levi

Size: 103 x 66 cm

Museum: Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale. Collezione Farnesina (Rome, Italy)

Technique: Oil On Canvas

Introduced by Piero Gobetti to the school of Felice Casorati, the most importantpainter working in Turin at the time and leader of the city’s pictorial avant-garde,Carlo Levi began his artistic career by addressing allegorical subjects. The master’sstylistic influence is evident in this work, where geometry strives for the perfectionof Casorati’s pure volumes. Exhibited at the 1924 Venice Biennial, it shows a nakedyouth lying on the floor with a flute in his left hand. Levi then joined Gigi Chessa,Nicola Galante, Francesco Menzio, Enrico Paulucci and Jessie Boswell in theGruppo dei Sei in 1929 and exhibited work with them in various cities of Italyand Europe. An artist, writer and political activist, he regarded painting as a toolfor knowledge of reality in close connection with his ideas and writings on art aswell as his political commitment. (Transl. by Paul Metcalfe per Scriptum, Roma)