Bice Visconti

The Reassembled Papers
Drawings and Sketchbooks from the Great War

  • Edited by Francesco Gonzales
  • Binding Paperback with flaps
  • Size 24 x 28 cm
  • Pages 144
  • Illustrations 150
  • Language Italian, English
  • Year 2017
  • ISBN 9788836637935
  • Price € 20,00  € 19,00
Add to cart Add to cart Add to cart
Abstract

The volume presents part of the graphic corpus of works by the artist Bice Visconti (b. Milan 1883 – d. Rapallo 1962). She gained her artistic training in Milan, Turin and Paris at the close of the 1800s, dedicating herself to painting and participating in many exhibitions both in Italy and abroad. In the drawings and notebooks presented here for the first time, there emerges the sensitivity of an original artist in continuous evolution. Bice Visconti enrolled as a volunteer in the Italian Red Cross in 1915, working in a field hospital where she recorded moments in the lives of soldiers and medical personnel. One seems to be viewing the frames of a silent movie and the dramatic years of World War I: the images are steeped in sadness and melancholy: wounded soldiers waiting for their food ration, or captured during moments of despair and pain. In later drawings, Bice dedicated herself to illustrating the figures and silhouettes of airmen, while in others she became impassioned with the theme of dance where she seemed to be chasing the elegant evolutions of ballet dancers. The catalogue is complete with drawings dedicated to travels, to religious subjects and to animals. After World War II Bice Visconti moved to the hamlet of Veruno in the vicinity of Novara. In this peaceful setting, far away from high society, she dedicated herself to writing on Italian cuisine and continued to paint until the final days of her life. She passed away in Rapallo in 1962.

London, 48 Millbank, SW1P 4RL, October - November 2017