Galliano Mazzon
Camisano Vicentino, Vicenza, 1896 - Milano, 1978
In 1930 he began to create his first abstract works together with Edoardo Persico, Gino Ghiringhelli, Maria Cernuschi and other artists. In this period he is assiduous to the Galleria del Milione in Milan but they are very hard years and the consensus is almost non-existent.
A few months after his birth the family emigrates to Brazil and he will live the free but hard life of the "matos" (or the Indians), being educated by the Salesian missionaries. At the outbreak of the First World War he returned to Italy to volunteer; during a fight on Monte Santo he was wounded and mutilated with his right hand. He studied in a re-education house and after completing the courses he enrolled in the Brera Academy, while facing a very precarious economic situation.
From 1921 he was qualified to teach drawing in secondary and high schools and in 1926 he obtained a diploma in painting. Though he never returned to his childhood homeland, he would always remember the fiery Brazilian sunsets, giant flowers, birds and large butterflies in the tropical forests.
In 1928 he won the Gavazzi Prize and the following year he took part in the Barcelona International Art Exhibition.
In 1930 he began to create his first abstract works together with Edoardo Persico, Gino Ghiringhelli, Maria Cernuschi and other artists. In this period he is assiduous to the Galleria del Milione in Milan but they are very hard years and the consensus is almost non-existent.
In 1932 he was appointed a teacher of drawing in the middle school and his innovative teaching principles were universally recognized with the name "School Mazzon".
From 1934 to 1938 he retired in solitude to a hut in the Brenta Dolomites and published, anonymously, a book of poems.
The outbreak of the war plunged him into depression. In 1945 he returned to Milan where he taught at the Alfredo Panzini middle school. He resumed painting and created a series of ink-pastels entitled Brazilian that prelude to the informal.
In 1947, at the suggestion of the architect Alberto Sartoris, he joined the Réalités Nouvelles group in Paris, where he exhibited from 1947 to 1950.
In 1949 he joined the Concrete Art Movement with Dorfles, Munari, Monnet, Soldati, Veronesi, Radice, Di Salvatore and others. He participated in important exhibitions including the historical exhibition of early Italian abstractionism in 1951 at the Galleria Bompiani, where, in December 1950, the "Mazzon School" was presented.
Many of his solo shows, among the most important ones staged at the Cavallino Gallery, Venice; San Fedele Gallery, Milan; Galleria del Grattacielo, Milan and Legnano; Ziegler Gallery, Zurich; Galleria Il Salotto, Como; Beatrice Gallery, Novara; Galleria Montrasio, Monza, Michelangelo Gallery, Bergamo.
In 1956 he retired from every public demonstration because he felt the urgency of a reflection that led him to new experiences. In 1962 he painted a series of desolate and expressionistic visions. It is presented to the public with a new production fruit of meditated spiritual recollection, a structuralist-lyrical abstractionism and in 1965 he set up an extensive exhibition at the gallery Il Salotto in Como.
In 1966 he received the Gold Medal at the International Prize of Painting of Champion of Italy, in 1967 the Gold Florin of the City of Florence and in 1968 the gold medal for ten masters at the National Prize of Painting Grottammare.
In 1967 Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti presented him at Palazzo Strozzi, Florence among the first Italian abstract artists of the historical exhibition "Modern Art in Italy 1915-1935". In October 1969 the City of Milan dedicated a large anthological exhibition to the Civic Gallery of Contemporary Art. In 1971 the Peccolo gallery in Livorno set up an important anthological exhibition at the Accademia d'Arte in Montecatini.
In 2005 his work was requested for the exhibition "Filoluce", presented at the Permanente in Milan.
His works are exhibited in 2007 at the exhibition "Wassily Kandinsky and abstractionism in Italy 1930 - 1950" held at the Fondazione Mazzotta in Milan.
Museums:
Arezzo, Museum of Futurism and first 900 European "Viviani-Burali". A section of the Museum is dedicated to Master Galliano Mazzon;
Mendrisio, Museum of Art
Bibliography:
Mazzon, Monza, galleria Montrasio, 18.2-9.3.1967; Enciclopedia Universale Seda della Pittura Moderna, Milano, Seda, 1969; Galliano Mazzon, Brescia, Galleria S. Benedetto; Galliano Mazzon, Bergamo Galleria Michelangelo, 1973; Galliano Mazzon, disegni dal 1919 al 1937, Milano, Galleria d’arte Zuino, 8.4-4.5.1976; L. Lambertini, Galliano Mazzon, Arte Moderna Italiana n. 76, All’insegna del pesce d’oro, Milano, 1977
From 1921 he was qualified to teach drawing in secondary and high schools and in 1926 he obtained a diploma in painting. Though he never returned to his childhood homeland, he would always remember the fiery Brazilian sunsets, giant flowers, birds and large butterflies in the tropical forests.
In 1928 he won the Gavazzi Prize and the following year he took part in the Barcelona International Art Exhibition.
In 1930 he began to create his first abstract works together with Edoardo Persico, Gino Ghiringhelli, Maria Cernuschi and other artists. In this period he is assiduous to the Galleria del Milione in Milan but they are very hard years and the consensus is almost non-existent.
In 1932 he was appointed a teacher of drawing in the middle school and his innovative teaching principles were universally recognized with the name "School Mazzon".
From 1934 to 1938 he retired in solitude to a hut in the Brenta Dolomites and published, anonymously, a book of poems.
The outbreak of the war plunged him into depression. In 1945 he returned to Milan where he taught at the Alfredo Panzini middle school. He resumed painting and created a series of ink-pastels entitled Brazilian that prelude to the informal.
In 1947, at the suggestion of the architect Alberto Sartoris, he joined the Réalités Nouvelles group in Paris, where he exhibited from 1947 to 1950.
In 1949 he joined the Concrete Art Movement with Dorfles, Munari, Monnet, Soldati, Veronesi, Radice, Di Salvatore and others. He participated in important exhibitions including the historical exhibition of early Italian abstractionism in 1951 at the Galleria Bompiani, where, in December 1950, the "Mazzon School" was presented.
Many of his solo shows, among the most important ones staged at the Cavallino Gallery, Venice; San Fedele Gallery, Milan; Galleria del Grattacielo, Milan and Legnano; Ziegler Gallery, Zurich; Galleria Il Salotto, Como; Beatrice Gallery, Novara; Galleria Montrasio, Monza, Michelangelo Gallery, Bergamo.
In 1956 he retired from every public demonstration because he felt the urgency of a reflection that led him to new experiences. In 1962 he painted a series of desolate and expressionistic visions. It is presented to the public with a new production fruit of meditated spiritual recollection, a structuralist-lyrical abstractionism and in 1965 he set up an extensive exhibition at the gallery Il Salotto in Como.
In 1966 he received the Gold Medal at the International Prize of Painting of Champion of Italy, in 1967 the Gold Florin of the City of Florence and in 1968 the gold medal for ten masters at the National Prize of Painting Grottammare.
In 1967 Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti presented him at Palazzo Strozzi, Florence among the first Italian abstract artists of the historical exhibition "Modern Art in Italy 1915-1935". In October 1969 the City of Milan dedicated a large anthological exhibition to the Civic Gallery of Contemporary Art. In 1971 the Peccolo gallery in Livorno set up an important anthological exhibition at the Accademia d'Arte in Montecatini.
In 2005 his work was requested for the exhibition "Filoluce", presented at the Permanente in Milan.
His works are exhibited in 2007 at the exhibition "Wassily Kandinsky and abstractionism in Italy 1930 - 1950" held at the Fondazione Mazzotta in Milan.
Museums:
Arezzo, Museum of Futurism and first 900 European "Viviani-Burali". A section of the Museum is dedicated to Master Galliano Mazzon;
Mendrisio, Museum of Art
Bibliography:
Mazzon, Monza, galleria Montrasio, 18.2-9.3.1967; Enciclopedia Universale Seda della Pittura Moderna, Milano, Seda, 1969; Galliano Mazzon, Brescia, Galleria S. Benedetto; Galliano Mazzon, Bergamo Galleria Michelangelo, 1973; Galliano Mazzon, disegni dal 1919 al 1937, Milano, Galleria d’arte Zuino, 8.4-4.5.1976; L. Lambertini, Galliano Mazzon, Arte Moderna Italiana n. 76, All’insegna del pesce d’oro, Milano, 1977
