Page 22 - Luigi Pericle_Beyondthevisible PRESS REVIEW Formal.pdf

LaRepubblica
C.Gati 27January2019
Englishversion
ThepainterwhovanishedinMonteVerità
WhoknowsLuigiPericle?YetheexhibitedwithPicaso,Tàpiesand Dubufet.Thennothingmore.Now hisartworkshavebeen rediscovered.
Bysomemiracle.
Tenyearsoffame,thenonlysilenceandthemostdesperatestudies.Inthis wayLuigiPericle(1916-2001),aBaselauthorwhocamefrom theMarche region,crosed a whole period ofarthistory in the 1900s;he was appreciatedbythemosteminentnamesoftheartenvironmentsuchasthe powerfulcolectorPeterG.StaechelinorSirHerbertRead,trusteeofthe TateGalery,curatorofVictoria&AlbertMuseum anddearfriendofPeggy Guggenheim.ThegaleryArthurTooth& Sons,afashionablecircleinthe Fab Sixties London, exhibited Pericle’s w orks along w ith art pieces by Picaso,Appel,Jorn,Tàpies,DubufetandMathieu.Inaddition,atthepeak ofhissucces,themuseologistHansHes,curatoroftheYorkArtGalery, arangedatravelingexhibitionforhim touringseveralEnglishmuseums.
Itwas1965and,whenthetourfinished,Periclevanished(deliberately)into thinair.Farfrom themaddingcrowd.Hehidawayintheanarchicheavenof M o n te V e rità - th e w e l l-k n o w n “ h il l o f u to p ia ” lo c a te d in th e w o o d la n d CantonofTicinoaboveAscona,facingthenorthernextremityoftheLake MaggiorewithhiswifeOrsolinaKlainguti. Assoonasthefirstchapter ends,thesecondonestarts.Somemonthsagoacoupleoflocalhoteliers, Greta and Andrea Biasca-Caroni,discovered the treasure ofPericle.The smalearly20thcenturyhousewhichappearedtobeswalowedupbya bushafterthemaster’spasingaway.Itexpresesthesamemagnetism of theHil;amysticandesotericairwhichhadatractedscholars,poets,artists andtheosophistsfrom aloverEuroperangingfrom KropotkintoHerman Hese,from IsadoraDuncantoPaulKlee.Theyallandedhereaspiringtoa lifeofpurity,toawildedenwhichHaraldSzemannwonderfulydescribed withnever-endingwordsandexhibitions.Sinceitwasboughtatanauction andreopenedafteryearsofdecay,thishousehasunveiledhundredsof paintings and drawings organised in large wooden boxes lying in the basement.Thevolumesofliterature,philosophy,Egyptianart,theosophy, astrologythatclusteredhislibraryservedtoquenchPericle’sversatilethirst for know ledge, the m iraculous source of an inspiration that w as not confinedtopaintingbut,rather,entrustedtothousandsofdocumentsthat unveilaplethoraofhoroscopes,ufologyesays,notebooksrichwithquotes and Japanese ideograms,cosmic symbols,Chinese medicine and homeopathicrecipes.
AcordingtoLuigiPericle,thetheoryofeverythingwastheresearchofthe absolutetruthexistinginthisearthlyworldandintheotherone-beyondthe contingence.“Art”,quotingPericle,“reflectsman’sspiritualinclinationand is like an instrumentendowed with clairvoyance;artalways has the presentmentoffuture events.” His imagery was thus enlivened with hypnoticfigures,visionaryscenarios,alienworlds,stargatesopentoward mechaniccivilizations.Amagnificentobsesionthatledhim farfrom ‘paintingasmerepainting’andturnedhim intoafreethinkerandalsothe authorofasciencefictionnovelsetinapostatomicworld.Thisunpublished typewritenworkhasemergedtodayalongwithpaintingsdevotedtovaried themes:pyramidsandgolems,moons,archangelsandenigmatichoracles.
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