Benvenuto Benvenuti
( Livorno 1881- 1959 )
Born in Leghorn, after
having received the first teachings from Lorenzo Cecchi at the
Art and Trade school, around 1897 Benvenuti began to get closer
to the Macchiaioli circles, taking an interest above all in the
Adolfo Tommasi painting. His interest for the pointillism dates
back to 1899 and became more specific in 1903 thanks to the
essential meeting with the Milanese painter Vittore Grubicy, the
main theoretician and popularizer of the new technique, of whom
Benvenuti became the most persevering pupil, going regularly to
Milan from 1905 until 1920, year of Grubicy's death.
The artist's very personal
way of testing the pointillist technique got therefore defined
at the beginning of the century, nourished by Grubicy's
suggestions, but marked by a stylistic key feature and by a
thematic repertoire that are his own, as shown in the triptych
"Sensazioni luminose" (Luminous sensations), which was exhibited
in 1906 at the National Fine Arts Show of Milan. The exhibition
of Milan marked the beginning of an intensive showing activity:
in 1907 he took part with seven Leghorn views to the famous
Salon des Peintres Divisionistes Italiens organized by the
Grubicy Gallery in Paris, two years later he was again in Paris
with Llewelyn Lloyd and Plinio Nomellini at the Salon d'Automne.
In 1911 he participated in
the Free Art Exhibition of Milan and in 1914 he gave his
preference to the LXXXIII Exhibition of the Fine Arts Lovers
Society, instead of the second Roman Secessione. During his
frequent stays in Milan, besides his painting activity, he
developped an interest for the design, cooperating with the
cabinet-making House of Eugenio Quarti, protagonist of the
Italian Liberty season. In 1920 Grubicy, short before his death,
appointed Benvenuti as executor and heir of a considerable
number of works, confirming the strong relationship between the
two artist, which is also shown in their correspondence, now
part of the Grubicy Archive.
After the First World War,
Benvenuti settled again in Leghorn, beginning in 1922 to take
part to the exhibitions of the Labronico Group and of the
Bottega d'arte Gallery, where in 1923 he organized his first
personal exhibition, apex of his artistic itinerary. This
exhibition showed the mature stage of his painting,
characterised by his renewed interest for the pointillist
technique. During the Twenties his graphics production became
more intense and the result were two exhibitions: in 1933 at the
Esame Gallery and in 1935 at the Scopinich Gallery. After the
end of the Second World War he took part to some exhibitions (like
the one of 1948, From the XIX to the XX Century, at Dante's Home
in Florence) until in the Fifties he had to abandon the painting
due to his progressive blindess.