Ottone Rosai

Ottone Rosai, born in Florence in 1895 and passed away in Ivrea in May 1957, was a precocious artist whose vocation seemed almost innate. He expressed a profound connection with his subjects, stating, “Before I even draw them, I can feel them living in their forms, emerging from the tips of my fingers.” At just eighteen, in 1913, he showcased his first etchings in Pistoia alongside students of Celestino Celestini, his mentor at the School of Engraving, following his expulsion from the Academy. Shortly after, he organized an exhibition with Betto Lotti in Florence.

Rosai's encounter with the Futurists, particularly through the magazine “Lacerba,” was a revelation, sparking enthusiasm for the movement. Reflecting on this experience in maturity, he acknowledged its importance in helping him seek the true aims of painting: “a discipline of forms and colors.”

A crucial element of Rosai's exploration was drawing, which he viewed as the primary means to measure and navigate reality. He believed that daily, apparent reality takes shape only through graphic structure on the page, requiring a gradual approach to the world through separate frames. This meditative tendency resulted in meticulously composed sheets, such as Giocatori di toppa, where “nothing is casual or provisional.” The houses in the background create a play of shadows, directing focus to the group of people in the foreground, who engage in their pastime unbothered by the two grimacing masks, including one with a Cyrano-like nose, which appears grotesque.

These figures, also present in his smaller work Attesa, were seen by art critic Edoardo Persico as representing the common people, stating, “Rosai's figure will appear outside the vignettes of the new Tuscan bozzettismo. To us, this common man seems the brother of all who sought, despite misery and guilt, the essence of a new world amid the hell of war and the purgatory of peace.”

In 1922, Rosai faced tragedy when his father committed suicide in the Arno due to debts. He paid homage to him with a masterful portrait titled l'Artigiano, capturing a serene smile with profound tenderness. In a letter to a friend, Rosai shared his struggles and determination to keep his father’s legacy alive through art, emphasizing the support he received from friends during his father’s funeral.

Rosai’s tender portrayal of everyday epicness and poetry borders on the poignant, as seen in works like Innamorati (1934), where two lovers embrace in harmony with a landscape that transcends concrete representation to become a mental and emotional space, bathed in a warm light that calms the sky. His ability to evoke emotion through his art reflects both personal and universal themes, capturing the beauty of life in its simplest forms.