American Painter Luigi Lucioni (1900-1988) ~ Blog of an Art Admirer

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American Painter Luigi Lucioni (1900-1988)

Luigi Lucioni. Nostalgic Echoes 1954

Supremely independent and amazingly dexterous, Luigi Lucioni can be appreciated today as one of the finest painters of still life this country has produced in the twentieth century. With their pristine surfaces, unusual arrangements, and vivid color combinations, his canvases stand out as the creations of an artist deeply aware of tradition yet beholden to no one. (luigilucioni.com)

Luigi Lucioni. Harmony in Minor Key, c. 1974

The Italian-born American painter Luigi Lucioni came to the United States in 1911 with his family, studied at Cooper Union Art School and the National Academy of Design.

In 1930, his most important patron Electra Havemeyer Webb commissioned him to paint a Vermont landscape for her daughter’s wedding and invited him to stay at the family’s summer estate in Shelburne. The state’s verdant mountainous terrain had such a profound effect on him that he later exclaimed, “I was reborn in this majestic setting and I fell in love with Vermont.” museum.middlebury.edu

Luigi Lucioni. A Farewell to the Birches

While landscapes and still lifes provided fulfilling subject matter for Lucioni throughout his career, the same cannot be said of portraits. Although his meticulous style and intense observation of subjects lent itself to portraiture, he lamented that he did not really enjoy it. His most successful portraits date from the first half of his career, such as the 1939 portrait of the blues and jazz vocalist Ethel Waters and the 1942 portrait of the Italian vocalist Mili Monti. However, like many portrait painters he was most comfortable painting friends and family, where he had a genuine emotional attachment for the person depicted, and he received no criticism. (museum.middlebury.edu)