Exhibition – Felicità della Pittura, Edgardo Zauli Sajani: from Forlì to Rome
Nicola Zingaretti, President of the Lazio Region, Giovanna Alberta Campitelli and Tiziana D’Acchille, President and Director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, and Orlando Pocci, Mayor of Velletri, in collaboration with the Municipality of Forlì and the Arte e Cultura Foundation, present the
exhibition The Happiness of Painting. Edgardo Zauli Sajani da Forlì a Roma, curated by Marco Nocca, which opens on 7 December 2019 at 6:00 pm at the Convento del Carmine in Velletri.
After the success of Juana Romani, la petite Italienne (2017), the Academy, with a selection dedicated to forgotten protagonists of Painting, proposes the rediscovery of Edgardo Zauli Sajani (1874-1944), a painter from Forlì, with an exhibition at its Velletri location on the seventy-fifth anniversary of his death. In 1929, Zauli Sajani was the author of important public commissions, such as the Portrait of Vittorio Emanuele III and the Portrait of Benito Mussolini (paintings on display) for the residence of the Podestà in Forlì. He trained in Rome until 1897 at the Institute of Fine Arts with Filippo Prosperi, a purist painter. At the turn of the century, Zauli engaged with Balla’s Divisionist vision, as evidenced by the two studies on display: Portrait of a Girl and Still Life with Fruit. Edgardo, a shy man not inclined to relationships, found his refugium for experiencing the “happiness of Painting” in Velletri, “his second, dearest homeland”, where he became “the Artist”, appreciated and esteemed by an entire community. From here, he maintained relations with Forlì, sending his works to exhibitions in Romagna, or creating splendid celebratory parchments of illustrious figures (Crispino, Longo, Pedriali, Paulucci di Calboli Barone). The exhibition, the result of studies and research, reconstructs an artist’s career in the context in which it took place, bringing back to the city in Lazio as many as 47 paintings, on loan from the Pinacoteca Civica di Forlì, which demonstrate a profound interpretative sensitivity in the splendid female portraits, not immune to the charm of decadentism, and in the landscapes, always depicted from life with the refined mastery of a watercolourist. In the Refettorio del Carmine, the large painting Azalea. Portrait of a young lady, reminiscent of Boldini’s atmospheres, gold medal for Painting at the Forlì exhibition (1907), restored thanks to a contribution from Volscambiente, a subsidiary of the Municipality of Velletri. Through the splendid oil Self-Portraits, no fewer than four, it is possible to follow the artist’s existential journey, from early youth to maturity; among the pastels is a magnificent Portrait of his mother, which recalls influences from the Boccioni of the first century, and His brother Giulio, a key figure for contacts with Forlì. The small paintings are remarkable, capturing glimpses of Velletri (Strada con carretto a vino romano; Strada con arco) or the picturesque surroundings (La Sipportica a Cori); the open-air views, in which the artist from Forlì expresses a vibrant, thrilling feeling for the Ancient (Arco di Tito) and the landscape (Casa con albero).
His activities in the city in Lazio, as shown in the extensive catalogue curated by Marco Nocca, are numerous: professor of drawing at the Technical Schools, set designer for silent films produced here at an early stage, illustrator of books and graphic designer (his is the Socialist Party card before the Livorno split in 1921). Director of the local School of Art and Crafts from 1898 to 1935, he engaged the apprentice craftsmen on special occasions when the city presented itself to the outside world, as shown in the video on display (Agricultural and Livestock Exhibition, 1904; Arc de Triomphe for the entrance of Vittorio Emanuele, 1927; National Grape Festival, 1930; Visit of Benito Mussolini for the inauguration of the Simbrivio aqueduct, 1932), enabling them to reach national levels of excellence: in 1943, the Royal School of Art of Velletri was among the best in Italian Art Education, with a dedicated volume in the Le Monnier series. By 1935, Zauli had already settled permanently in the city in Lazio. During the Allied bombing of Velletri on 22 January 1944, the day of the Anzio landings, the artist’s studio-home in Via Castello was destroyed. In early June of the same year, Zauli died in Rome from a cerebral haemorrhage and was buried there at the Verano cemetery. In 1947, at the express wish of a group of citizens, the painter was transferred to the monumental cemetery of Velletri, to a prominent earth tomb, built with a subscription, as a sign of gratitude for the teaching work carried out there; a street in the city centre was dedicated to him.
The master’s surviving works, kept elsewhere by the family, were donated by the heirs to the Pinacoteca Civica di Forlì from 1998 onwards and exhibited here in 1999 (Edgardo Zauli Sajani: una donazione, un ritorno, curated by by G. Viroli), making it possible to learn about a painter who had been left in the shadows. Twenty years after that exhibition, in today’s critical climate of reconsideration of Italian art of the first half of the 20th century, this exhibition focuses on an artist who was singularly solitary, alternately linked, in his time, to the languages of painting on the peninsula. The catalogue, with the contribution of specialists, illustrates his artistic and professional story, presenting Zauli’s work that has been traced so far, here enriched for the first time by images of the lost works (found by Luciana Prati in the Piancastelli Collection of the Municipal Library of Forlì) and by material donated by his great-granddaughter Liliana Ceradelli Witz-Hancsak. The background is the history of the Royal School of Art of Velletri during the years of Zauli’s directorship (1898-1935), with an extensive documentary appendix.
Catalogue published by L’Erma di Bretschneider, curated by Marco Nocca; entries by Gabriele Romani. Introductions by Nicola Zingaretti, President of the Lazio Region, Giovanna Alberta Campitelli and Tiziana D’Acchille, President and Director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, Orlando Pocci and Gianluca Zattini, Mayors of the Cities of Velletri and Forlì, and Claudio M. Micheli, Artistic Director of the Arte e Cultura Foundation. Contributions by Marco Nocca, Anna Maria Damigella, Francesca Longo, Barbara de Iudicibus, Gabriele Romani and Luciana Prati. Umberto Savo. Entries by Gabriele Romani. Parchment entries curated by Flora Fiorini and Anna Provenzano. Biographical and documentary appendix by Marco Nocca. Bibliographic review: Francesca Sacchini.
Guided tours of the exhibition on Saturdays and Sundays, 12:00 pm and 6:00 pm. Groups: on weekdays or public holidays by reservation, starting from 10 people, by email to Dr Elisabetta Rossini, rossini.betta@gmail.com. Edgardo Zauli Sajani Facebook page.