Despite the reduction of the figure to an almost abstract state, Severini does not fail to give his “ciociara figure” a certain recognisability, maintaining characteristics typical of her traditional costume [...]

From the period when Gino Severini was experimenting with synthetic Cubism (having actively spent years among the ranks of the Futurist movement), La Ciociara (The Woman from Ciociaria) reveals some unique characteristics of this new artistic phase, which can be recognised despite the small size of the study. In fact, the work is simply a sketch for a larger painting that is very similar in terms of subject matter and was also painted in 1918 (more precisely, in March) and has the same title (fig. 1).¹ 

It was in 1916 that Severini began to move progressively away from the Futurists. This is apparent both in his increasingly rare attendance of group events and in the lyrical terms of his painting, developed in certain theoretical contributions published during that period. Having abandoned geometric dynamism and Futurist research, Severini experiments with highly geometric figurative synthesis, playing upon simple and almost abstract forms, in keeping with a constructive process that recalls the methods already used in his papiers collés of the period. This change marks a turnaround in terms of the market for his works, particularly in reference to his presence on the Paris exhibition scene. Indeed, it was in 1916 that Severini began to feature (albeit not officially) among the artists marketed by the dealer Léonce Rosenberg, with his name appearing alongside those of better- known Cubist painters, including Jean Metzinger, Georges Braque and Juan Gris. 

In the sketch in the Cerruti Collection, Severini chooses to interpret the motif of the ciociara, the typical peasant girl from Ciociaria (in the region of Lazio, south-east of Rome, often associated with the province of Frosinone) dressed in the typical gaudy local costume. The development of the motif, of which the sketch is the closest study to the definitive painting, is recorded by a series of drawings (originally featuring in a single sketchbook), which reveal the progressive simplification of the descriptive aspects until achieving the final outcome, interpreted in a peremptorily geometric key, lacking in almost any spatial reference.² Despite the reduction of the figure to an almost abstract state, Severini does not fail to give his “ciociara figure” a certain recognisability, maintaining characteristics typical of her traditional costume: the necklace, the puffed blouse, the bodice and the typical apron decorated with strips of fabric with geometric or floral motifs. 

As emphasised several times in his previous studies, between 1917 and 1918 Severini seemed to look closely at Picasso’s most recent works, especially those produced during his stay in Rome in spring 1917. The artist retrospectively recalled this interest in his memoirs, recounting his encounter with certain works by the Spanish artist who had returned to Paris in the meantime: “On his return, Picasso showed me various things, particularly a large canvas [the famous painting produced in Rome called Arlequin et femme au collier] done in a very linear spirit, two-dimensional forms, extreme clarity […] of a painterly poetry that had reached the highest level of transposition and abstraction.” ³ 

As well as absorbing the formal experiments, Severini appears to be curious about the thematic decisions involved in Picasso’s painting. This sketch for La Ciociara - like the definitive painting itself - reveals numerous similarities to L’Italienne (The Italian Woman, fig. 2),⁴ another piece that the Spanish artist produced during his time in Rome. Having belonged to Severini’s friend Louis Raymond - as indicated in the autograph dedication that can be seen on the front - the work entered the collection of Francesco Federico Cerruti after the mid-1990s.⁵ It is accompanied by an authentication by the artist’s daughter Gina Severini Franchina, a copy of which is kept in the collector’s archive.⁶ 

Alessandro Botta 

¹ See Fonti 1988, p. 272, no 311.

² Ibid., pp. 272-273, nos 311B-E, G.

³ Severini 1968, p. 20.

⁴ The painting is currently in the Bührle Collection in Zurich.

⁵ In the handwritten inventory of 30 June 1993, La Ciociara is not mentioned among the works in the collection. See “Inventario dei mobili, dipinti, sculture, argenti, tappeti, maioliche, porcellane e oggetti d’arte che si trovano nella villa di Rivoli alla data del 30-06-1993”, Cerruti Collection Archives.

⁶ Authentication by Gina Severini Franchina on the back of the reproduction of the painting La Ciociara; 12 June 1984, with handwritten addition dated 23 April 1985 (Cerruti Collection Archives).