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Antonio Ligabue (18 December 1899 – 27 May 1965; born Antonio Laccabue) was an Italian
Antonio Ligabue (18 December 1899 – 27 May 1965; born Antonio Laccabue) was an Italian painter
Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
. He was one of the most important Naïve art
Naïve art is usually defined as visual art that is created by a person who lacks the formal education and training that a professional artist undergoes (in anatomy, art history, technique, perspective, ways of seeing). When this aesthetic is ...
ists of the 20th century.
Biography
He was born inZürich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
, Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
on 18 December 1899, to Elisabetta Costa, a native from Cencenighe Agordino, and supposedly to Bonfiglio Laccabue (the true identity of the father is still unknown), native from Reggio Emilia
Reggio nell'Emilia (; ), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until Unification of Italy, 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 172,51 ...
. His mother, Elisabetta, and three brothers died in 1913 as a result of food poisoning.
In 1942 the painter changed his surname from Laccabue to Ligabue, presumably because of the hate towards his father, whom he considered guilty of the uxoricide
Uxoricide (from Latin ''uxor'' meaning "wife" and -cide, from ''caedere'' meaning "to cut, to kill") is the killing of one's own wife. It can also be used in the context of the killing of one's own girlfriend. It can refer to the act itself or ...
of his mother. In September 1900 he was entrusted to the Swiss Johannes Valentin Göbel and Elise Hanselmann. He began to work occasionally as a farm hand and conducted a wandering life. After an altercation with his foster mother, he was hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic.
In 1919, following the complaint by Hanselmann, Ligabue was expelled from Switzerland. From Chiasso
Chiasso (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Mendrisio (district), Mendrisio in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland.
As Extreme points of Switzerland, the southernmost of Switzerland's ...
he was moved to Gualtieri
Gualtieri (Emilian dialects, Mantovano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Reggio Emilia, in the Italy, Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about north of Reggio Emilia on the right bank o ...
, in the province of Reggio Emilia
The province of Reggio Emilia (; Emilian: ''pruvînsa ed Rèz'') is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The capital city, which is the most densely populated ''comune'' (municipality) in the province, is Reggio Emilia.
It has an ...
, the hamlet of origin of the adoptive father but, not knowing a word of Italian, he tried to return to Switzerland.
Ligabue lived with support from the City Hospice of beggars. He began to paint in 1920. In 1928 he met Marino Mazzacurati, who appreciated his artistic capabilities and taught him the use of oil painting. In those years Ligabue devoted himself to painting and continued to wander aimlessly along the River Po.
In 1937 he was hospitalized in a mental hospital in Reggio Emilia for self-mutilation. In 1941 Andrea Mozzali helped him to get out of the psychiatric hospital and welcomed him to his home in Guastalla
Guastalla ( Guastallese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Reggio Emilia in Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
Geography
Guastalla is situated in the Po Valley, and lies on the banks of the Po River. Guastalla is located at around from the citi ...
, near Reggio Emilia. During World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Ligabue served in the Italian Army as an interpreter for the German troops. In 1945, after beating a German soldier with a bottle, he was interned in a mental hospital and remained there for three years.
In 1948 he began painting more intensely, and journalists, critics and art dealers began to be interested in him. In 1957 Severo Boschi, a journalist at the '' Il Resto del Carlino'' newspaper, and photographer Aldo Ferrari went to Gualtieri to meet him. The result was the currently best-known photograph of Ligabue.
In 1961 his first solo exhibition was held at the La Barcaccia gallery in Rome. He had a motorcycle accident and the following year he was stricken with paralysis. Guastalla dedicated him a major retrospective in 1963.
By now ill, asked to be received in the Catholic Church and, shortly after being baptized and confirmed, Ligabue died in Gualtieri on 27 May 1965.
In 1965, after his death, a retrospective of his work was held in the context of the Ninth Quadrennial of Rome.
See also
* '' Ligabue'' (1978 film) * '' Hidden Away'' (2020 film)References