Biography

Gino Terreni was born in Martignana (municipality of Empoli) in 1925 and spent his childhood near the Tuscan city. He began studying art under the guidance of master Nello Alessandrini but the beginning of the Second World War forced him to interrupt his studies. After the armistice he becomes a partisan and fights on the Gothic Line. At the end of the war he resumed his studies by attending the Porta Romana Art Institute in Florence. After completing his studies, he devoted himself to teaching mathematics, art history and art education. He is a member of the Academy of Drawing Arts of Florence, of the Muses and Engravers of Italy, of the Association of Venetian Engravers and of the Compagnia del Paiolo of Florence. In 1955 he held his first personal exhibition di lui, and from this moment on, numerous personal and group exhibitions will follow one another all over the world. He died in Empoli in 2015 leaving hundreds of works exhibited in various historic and public buildings, churches, squares and museums around the world.

Philosophy

Terreni is a multifaceted artist, he loves to range between different techniques but is particularly linked to the Expressionist current. His works are emotional and highly suggestive, which reveal the tragic nature of the subjects represented with their anxieties and hopes. During his career he has experimented with different languages and materials, creating paintings, sculptures, monuments, mosaics, woodcuts, frescoes and stained glass windows. Today we can see his works at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the Civic Museum of Pistoia, the Vatican Collection, the Pushkin Collection in Moscow (engravings), the Leningrad Museum (graphic works), and numerous other museums and private collections. He produced, among others, the International Monument to Peace (in bronze and mosaic) present in Abetone and the International Monument to Peace and the Fallen of All Wars (in bronze and ceramic) in Montelupo Fiorentino. Therefore, as his various works testify, there is no artistic technique that he has not practiced.

Artwork in Castagno

As Tommaso Paloscia writes, his are “wonderful and rough formal solutions […] with an excellent chiaroscuro technique”. In this fresco at Casa Paloscia in La Vigna (Castagno), the liveliness and brilliance of the colours, particularly evident in the mosaic L’Annunciazione (The Annunciation) present in the village, have unfortunately been lost but the original solution to represent the theme of The Virgin is still perceived in this La Vergine Annunciata, which is partly reminiscent of the mosaic and partly distinguishes itself from it. As in the mosaic, the choice of representing the Archangel Gabriel in the act of whispering in the Virgin’s ear is interesting, in line with the Gospel writings. Unlike the mosaic, however, here is Mary presents her arms folded and crossed over her chest in the very act of welcoming the Word into her womb. Always present next to the Virgin is instead the dove according to the iconographic tradition of the representation of the Holy Spirit, to symbolise the very moment of conception. The fresco is therefore presented as “a story that unfolds in peaceful visions, […] enhancing the mystical vision and poetry” in the words of the critic Paloscia. Find out more by reading the factsheet on L’Annunciazione (The Annunciation).

Facebook Group (Associazione Archivio Gino Terreni)