Tullio Garbari

Tullio Garbari, the eldest of seven children, was born in Pergine, in the province of Trento, on August 14. His parents managed a trattoria and a small grocery store. In 1908, he convinced his parents to allow him to enroll at the Accademia di Venezia; shortly thereafter, he left the Academy to join the so-called "Secessione di Cà Pesaro." During this period, he held his first exhibitions, such as at the International Exhibition in Rome, and also published his early writings in La Voce. Following brief stays in Florence, Tullio Garbari moved to Milan with his brothers, actively participating in military drills with the interventionist group to which he belonged. During this time, he held several exhibitions, the most significant for his art being the one in 1917 at the Chini Gallery, where he exhibited alongside Carlo Carrà. In January 1919, after the war, which had claimed one brother and severely injured another, he returned to Pergine to reunite with his family. Until that moment, the artist had been in Milan, where he experienced a pivotal expressive turning point due to his close association with Carrà, which began in 1910. The encounter facilitated his immersion into archaic culture, although their paths would later diverge. While Carrà's primitivism primarily concerned formal inspiration, Garbari's approach stemmed from a study of the emotional and passionate expressiveness of archaic and, above all, popular art.

Between 1919 and 1927, Garbari engaged rigorously in debates concerning the Trentino province, recently annexed to Italy. He upheld the notion of Italian identity without succumbing to nationalist fanaticism. In 1924, he relocated to Trento, where he experienced hunger. He was invited to join the "Novecento Italiano" movement; however, he felt that the characteristics of this group of artists rendered him an outsider to what had become nearly the official art of Fascism.

In 1927, he resumed painting at a vigorous pace after a hiatus dedicated primarily to study, steering towards a completely autonomous style distinct from contemporary artistic movements. It is from this year that all his previous experiences came to full maturation, culminating in a painting of rare richness and intensity. Positioned between surrealism—a clash of ideas within being—and transcendental realism—the confrontation of being with things—Garbari carved out a path for himself using profoundly spiritual and human means.

In the same year, he exhibited in Milan, Hamburg, Berlin, The Hague, Amsterdam, and in January 1928 in Leipzig. He painted numerous scenes depicting rural and popular life. In 1928, he participated in the XVI Venice Biennale, producing many sacred and popular-themed works from that year onward. In 1929, he exhibited at the Circolo Sociale in Trento. The following year, he showcased his work in Milan at the Bardi Gallery, and in 1931 at the Quadriennale in Rome and the Galleria del Milione, directed by Edoardo Persico. During this period, his greatest works emerged.

In March 1931, already recognized by critics as one of the authors of contemporary European painting, he departed for Paris, driven by the dream of meeting Maritain. There, he was joined by Dino Garrone, whom he had met the previous year, and he frequented Gino Severini, with whom he shared artistic and philosophical viewpoints. He exhibited at the Galérie de la Renaissance. He worked diligently until his untimely death on October 8, 1931, at the age of 39.

“The last works of Garbari will remain as the most significant documents of a subtle and relentless temperament, as testimonies of a Christian life characterized by aspiration and self-criticism. One could read in them a bleakly raw autobiography. Few eras have had an example of such exaggerated and prolonged reflection: this is why the memory of Garbari evokes an affection that transcends the individual and affirms a dutiful respect for a heroic will” (Persico).

His family, like many other works from his mature production, replaced religious themes with compositions of broad scope, complicated by mythological and biblical personifications. Although some critics interpreted these works as depicting bucolic and ancient themes, which were quite prevalent at the time, the painting carries an imprint of unprecedented expressive rawness and symbolic exploration, difficult to trace within the artistic context of the era. The finesse of the line envelops the monumentality of the image, rendering everything joyful and triumphant in this renewed chromatic force, as if he had reinterpreted Segantini in the bright, vibrant, and mineral tone of the high pastures. The harmonious and vibrant colors seem to evoke and reiterate the richness in the variety of creation. The composition proceeds through a simplification of schemes and color fields that is only apparent; the luminous tonality gradually overcomes contradictions and unifies the range, while within each color field there is a profound depth that conceptually corresponds to an affirmation of absolute coherence.

“The effort of simplification and internal purification found in Garbari's work and his constant intention to imbue it with rich spiritual content leads him, so to speak, automatically toward one of the noblest and, at the same time, most current goals: that is, to touch the intellects of the crowd while simultaneously appealing to those of the so-called elite” (Severini).