The Delicate Brush of Ugo Bernasconi
Works donated by the artist's heir and which have become part of the collections of the Pinacoteca
Self portrait (1909) by Ugo BernasconiPinacoteca civica di Como
Ugo Bernasconi
Ugo Bernasconi was born in Buenos Aires on May 21, 1874 to parents of Italian origin. An Italian painter, writer, translator and aphorist, he is remembered above all for his painting with lyrical and delicate tones.
Services (1920) by Ugo BernasconiPinacoteca civica di Como
His subjects
During his life, he touched on many themes: from landscapes to still lifes, from portraits of women to the sweetest and most spontaneous depictions of family members.
Blue cineraria by Ugo BernasconiPinacoteca civica di Como
Baradello castle by Ugo BernasconiPinacoteca civica di Como
Landscapes and travels
The protagonists are the places that have marked his life, with particular attention to local reality. However, before this the artist had known very distant places, which he first represented on wooden tablets, used as travel sketches.
Holy Land - ancient Cafarnaum (Bedouin tents) (1928) by Ugo BernasconiPinacoteca civica di Como
Upper Piave Valley (1899) by Ugo BernasconiPinacoteca civica di Como
Ugo Bernasconi began painting in the last ten years of the 19th century. His training was initially of a Divisionist nature, which he abandoned with his Parisian training.
Brown landscape: grey dome (1900) by Ugo BernasconiPinacoteca civica di Como
His stay in Paris
After having made a series of trips within and outside Europe, between 1899 and 1905 he lived in Paris, where he became friends with the master Eugène Carrière and whose monochrome style he made his own.
Figure in the garden (1940) by Ugo BernasconiPinacoteca civica di Como
Female portraits
These are the works most seen at major exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale or the Rome Quadrennial. Bernasconi portrays the women in his life: although they are posing, like models, he prefers the reworking of a memory to the mere copy.
Red beret (1930) by Ugo BernasconiPinacoteca civica di Como
Filial relationship (1921) by Ugo BernasconiPinacoteca civica di Como
Family affections
The privileged subjects of his most mature pictorial phase are the members of his own family, in particular his daughters Primavera, Brava, Fede, Erica and Eletta and his son Lionello.
Boy's head by Ugo BernasconiPinacoteca civica di Como
His move to Cantù starting in 1918 allowed him to live his art intensely according to a more intimate approach:
Girl in the mirror by Ugo BernasconiPinacoteca civica di Como
Bernasconi, in fact, did not want to be considered a painter of children, but what pushed him to prefer these subjects was precisely the need to capture the life that unfolded around him, the vicissitudes of his family, the harmony of domestic everyday life.
Needlewoman in pink (1918) by Ugo BernasconiPinacoteca civica di Como
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