Biography

Giuseppe Gavazzi was born in Marcoussis, France, in 1936 to Tuscan emigrant parents. In 1940 he returned to Pistoia, and ten years later he entered the “Policarpo Petrocchi” Art Institute where he studied until 1954. As a good Tuscan he founded his art in the practice of drawing, demonstrating a strong ability to give expressiveness and naturalness to the figurations. His artistic activity soon obtained favourable feedback, both in Italy and abroad, where he participated in important art exhibitions such as those in Basel, Zurich and the exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris. Over time he specialised in mural painting and developing this technique with passion, he began his activity as a restorer in Leonetto Tintori’s workshop, undertaking a demanding career that led him to be considered one of the most respected specialists in the sector. Among his most important interventions we remember those on the cycle of Good and Bad Government by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, on the Majesty by Simone Martini and on Giotto’s frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. In parallel with the complex restoration work, he never stops producing his works of art.

Philosophy

At the same time as his professional growth as a restorer, Gavazzi continued to practice the art of painting and more: from the mid-1950s he also tried his hand at sculpture, in particular using stone to perform bas-relief figurations and statues in the round. He then moved on to carving wooden figures, always presented with accurate patinations, and in the mid-1960s he also came to shape clay, to obtain works in terracotta, the first of which ended only with monochromatic colours while later he takes greater care of the finish with naturalistic colours, finding in this technique the most congenial means of expression. He also obtains results of equal intensity with the modelling of strong stucco and with wood carving, to which he returns frequently since the late 1980s. Finally, he also experiments with the technique of marble and bronze, as well as cultivating engraving. His rich and prolific career demonstrates how his entire and intense life was completely dedicated to art.

Artwork in Castagno

Among the twelve frescoes scattered through the streets of the village, the one dedicated to the month of February (Febbraio) bears the signature of the painter Gavazzi. A mother and child tight in an embrace, behind them a rural winter landscape that makes that physical gesture seem like an act of love that warms and protects from the cold around. The artist, painter or sculptor, usually portrays subjects with simple, soft, rounded features: the two faces here seem almost spherical. The eyes, noses and mouths are well defined elements but also defined by essential features. As well as the winter landscape in the background, just hinted at: a couple of bare trees, two silhouettes of animals, the distant mountains. The colours, cold, typical of a February landscape. The “motherhood” painted here immediately connects us to the sculptural “motherhood” (and vice versa) that we meet in the square (looking up): the artist is immediately recognised by the same round features and soft lines. He changes the technique, the material changes, the painter becomes a sculptor. But the style remains.

There are two other works by Gavazzi in Castagno: the famous sculptural composition entitled Maternità e il gattino that looks out from the windows of the “old restaurant” onto the small square in the heart of the village and La Meridiana painted on the facade of Casa Paloscia. He finds out more by reading the relevant cards.

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