Emplastic Oil - Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico

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SALVATORE VACANTI: FROM MURAL PAINTING TO “EMPLASTIC OIL”
fig. 14 G. Sciltian, Self-portrait, 1941, oil on
canvas, private collection
Moreover, it is with Gazzera that de Chirico organised
the provocative Antibiennale in Venice in 1950, in protest
against the abstract tendencies of the contemporary art
promoted by the official Biennale. 100
The young artist Gregorio Sciltian (fig. 14) was the
subject of an essay de Chirico published in “Stile” in 1941,
in which he emphasised the “spectacular element” of
Sciltian’s painting, specifying that this formulation referred
to the “vividness” found in his figures, for which he
deserved to be called “[…] the ultimate [artist] of harmonious
plasticity” 101 . The Armenian artist met de Chirico in
the 1920s in Rome and was fascinated by his paintings,
from which he culled technical lessons. Many years later
Sciltian published his Trattato sulla pittura (Treatise on
Painting) 102 , the theoretical section of which is influenced
by de Chirico’s theoretical reflection on “craft”, while the
technical section is strongly inspired by the Small Treatise. The opening passages are formulated
with the same terminology and concepts found in dechirican texts from 1919 onwards:
[…] I always went against the flow; I always fought relentlessly against the Tower of Babel built by
Modernism, because I saw the expression of decadence and of a tragic annihilation in it. 103
For this reason Sciltian wrote a treatise “without philosophical pretensions” that clarified his
artistic ideas and was dedicated to those painters who, like him, had decided “to recover the glorious
lost tradition”. 104 With this end in mind, he described his analysis of numerous historical manuscripts
and treatises from Cennini to Armenini and so on, in the search for useful, practical advice.
He - like de Chirico - favoured French and German writings from the seventeenth century, particularly
De la peinture à l’huile (On Oil Painting) by J. F. L. Mérimée. Oil painting was Sciltian’s preferred
medium, which he considered “the greatest result ever achieved by the art of painting”. 105
De Chirico first praised Annigoni’s artistic qualities after the latter’s solo exhibition in 1932 in
Luigi Bellini’s exhibition space in Palazzo Ferroni, where most works were painted with oil tempera.
Annigoni’s early production (fig. 15) - which he signed “Canonicus” - was carried out at a time
in which he travelled extensively throughout Europe and shared with German New Objectivity an
100
In 1948, the Venice Biennale hosted an exhibition on Metaphysical Art, which, however, greatly privileged de Chirico’s works from the 1910-1920
period at the expense of his recent production, an event that greatly annoyed de Chirico. See de Chirico, The Memoirs…, cit., p. 191.
101
G. de Chirico, Sciltian, in “Stile”, Milan, April 1941; now in G. de Chirico, Scritti/1…, pp. 896-898.
102
G. Sciltian, Trattato sulla pittura. Estetica, tecnica, Hoepli, Milan, 1980. This text is a new edition revised and expanded from the earlier works: G.
Sciltian, Pittura della realtà. Estetica e tecnica, Hoepli, Milan 1956; G. Sciltian, La realtà di Sciltian. Trattato sula pittura, Hoepli, Mian 1968.
103
G. Sciltian, op. cit., p. VIII.
104
Ibid., p. IX.
105
Ibid., p. 41.
METAPHYSICAL ART 2010|N° 9/10