Luigi Chialiva (1842-1914). Tra pittura di paese e pittura animalista

This book, curated by Giovanni Anzani with the collaboration of Elisabetta Chiodini, Luca Lualdi and Simona Ostinelli, contains about one hundred works including oil paintings, watercolours, works in pastel, drawings and photographs (from museums and private collections) that trace the artistic journey of Luigi Chialiva. Chialiva was a landscape painter born in the canton Ticino, at Caslano, in 1842 and who died in Paris in 1914. The book moves from the artist's professional beginnings in Milanese circles, subsequent contact with the painters of "verismo" from Piemonte and Liguria, to his transfer to Paris.
Beginning with Lombardy naturalism, Chialiva gradually lightened his colour palette, shrouding his landscapes - animated above all with flocks of sheep and young shepherdesses - in a melancholic charm and an atmosphere that is both uncertain and harmonious. The paint is handled skilfully employing cool colour tones.
In order to better understand the artist, the works of painters with whom Chialiva had contact and worked are presented, from Carlo Mancini to Filippo Carcano, who were among the first to have practised "il vero" in a non-conventional way. This is followed by presenting the works of artists from the Piemonte school and some of the protagonists of the Liguria school, such as Fontanesi, Avondo, Pittara, D'Andrade and Rayper, seen personally on the occasion of the "Esposizioni della Promotrice" shows in Turin between 1863 and 1871.
The book includes an essay by Giovanni Anzani that analyses the work of Chialiva as a whole, followed by texts by Simona Ostinelli (who probes the Paris milieu which the artist frequented), Elisabetta Cristina Chiodini (who tackles in detail the development of the artist's landscape and genre work) and Luca Lualdi (who deals with Chialiva's critical anonymity and commercial success).