Francesco Menzio

Francesco Menzio (3 April 1899 – 28 November 1979) was an Italian painter.

He was born in Tempio Pausania, Sassari in Sardinia, to Pietro Angelo Menzio, a high school teacher, and Augusta Pic, both originally from Piedmont. He and his five siblings spent their childhood following the father in his frequent work moves. They moved to L'Aquila, when Augusta, the mother, died in 1902. They finally settled in Turin in 1912, where Pietro Angelo married his second wife Argia Avetrani.

In Turin, Francesco completed his high school and enrolled for a year at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti, after which he completed his art training by himself. He served in the Army in the Infantry Battalion during the first World War, among the last young men drafted in combat, the so-called "Ragazzi del '99" ("The boys from 1899").

Upon his return home, he dedicated himself entirely to painting, entering in contact with Felice Casorati who would help him greatly in the years to come. In 1921, he participated in an exhibition held at the Mole Antonelliana, organized against the more conservative show of the "Societá Promotrice delle Belle Arti" on display yearly at the Parco del Valentino. In 1922 he was invited to show at the "Esposizione Artistica Piemontese-Sarda" in the town of Alessandria, where he exhibited a self-portrait (Autoritratto, 1922, now in the Civic Museum). In the year that follows he showed extensively in local and national venues such as the Quadriennale in Turin in 1923, the II Biennale in Rome and the Exhibition of Twenty Italian Artists at Galleria Pesaro in Milan in 1924 and in 1925 at the “Promotrice” in Turin, where he exhibited the Portrait of the Sister (Ritratto della sorella, 1925, now in the Gallery of Modern Art in Turin Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Torino).

In 1926 he was invited for the first time to show in the Venice Biennale and soon after at the First "Mostra del Novecento" and at the "Esposizione delle vedute di Torino" ("The Exhibition of Landscapes of Turin"). In 1927 he displayed 18 paintings in the "Exposition d’artistes italiens contemporains" ("Exhibition of Contemporary Italian Artists") in Geneva with an introduction written by Giacomo Debenedetti. During this period, he cultivated relationships with individuals such as Edoardo Persico; Lionello and Adolfo Venturi; Piero Gobetti (who would die soon after) and his wife Ada Prospero; Mario Soldati; Alfredo Casella; Roberto Longhi; and Riccardo Gualino (who would help the painter economically until the advent of fascism). Thanks to Riccardo Gualino who sponsored the "Teatro di Torino" and Gigi Chessa who designed sets, Menzio got to know foreign artists such as Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Diaghilev and members of the Habima Theater that expanded his vision above the marginality of the Italian art of those years. Gualino's patronage allowed Menzio to visit Paris in 1927, where he established his studio in rue Falguière. He was influenced by Matisse, Bonnard, and Dufy and adopted a post-Impressionist style. In 1928 he participated in the "Exposition of Italian painters", at the "XIVème Salon de L'escalier".

...
Wikipedia