“A dewy female torso […] far removed from the veiled nature of monastic constraints” 

Augusto Carutti

An artist with numerous interests, including set design, interior design and advertising graphics (upon introducing him at the Musée Rath in Geneva in 1927, Lionello Venturi described him as “a versatile artist” and also an “openminded and very modern boy”¹), Gigi Chessa underwent an intense phase of learning in the immediate post-war period, divided between his experience in Turin under the influence of Felice Casorati and the experience he gained in Anticoli Corrado with Felice Carena. Towards the end of the 1920s, he had the important opportunity to become part of the Sei Pittori di Torino group, although this did not stop him from working in the field of applied arts too. Conceived as a sort of exercise in nude painting (as highlighted by the title), Studio di nudo (Nude Study) is typical of his work of the mid-1920s, demonstrating certain unique aspects of his training as a painter: while on the one hand Felice Casorati’s influence is apparent in the environmental tone of the composition (a “lesson” that Paolo Fossati places in that “sense of direct experience for precise and defined moments, with their moods and flavours”),² the teachings of Carena have the biggest influence on the colouring, which is lacking in excessive hues, and also on the more specifically technical aspects of the paint mix and its application. 

In all likelihood, the work was one of those presented at two important exhibitions during the period (one in Turin, the other in Venice),³ as supported by catalogues and contemporary accounts. 

Presented at the Esposizione di bozzetti e disegni organised in Turin by the Società Antonio Fontanesi in spring 1924, Studio di nudo encountered a certain degree of success among local critics. Ernesto Ferrettini wrote about “a luminous female nude” in La Stampa, while Augusto Carutti instead made an ironic comment about the explicit nature of the subject matter, describing it as a “dewy female torso […] far removed from the veiled nature of monastic constraints” in the columns of Gazzetta del Popolo. 

Just over a month later, the annual Ca’ Pesaro event (held at the Venetian Lido for the first time) presented him with an opportunity re-establish his presence in the area, following on from 1923. Despite his initial reticence (the painter was busy in 1925 renovating the Teatro di Torino, as well as creating the sets and costumes for Gioachino Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri [The Italian Girl in Algiers]), Chessa accepted Nino Barbantini’s invitation to show an extensive selection of works in the form of a solo exhibition.⁴ 

Studio di nudo featured in the exhibition, together with another thirteen paintings, exploring the genres most typical of his oeuvre, from still life to the landscape around Anticoli Corrado (although, above all, it revealed a link with a more complete Nude seen from behind, owned by the composer Alfredo Casella). The inclusion of the painting in the exhibition at the Lido is supported by a list of artworks drawn up by the artist himself, complete with measurements, conserved in the archives of the Venetian institution.⁵ 

In 1965, the major Sei di Torino exhibition that opened at the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna in Turin was the first national retrospective dedicated to the group: a collection that was not strictly restricted to the years of the “Sei” and also included works by the individual artists from the period prior to the group’s formation. It seems that an excessively generous selection of works, picked by the exhibition organisers early on, led to a reduction in the number of canvases during the set-up phase, resulting in the exclusion of Studio di nudo - initially due to be included - both from the catalogue and from the exhibition itself (however, a label attached to the back of the work shows that it was transferred to the Turin institution and assigned its alternative title Nudo biondo [Blonde Nude]).⁶  

Alessandro Botta

¹ Venturi’s text (republished in Bovero 1965, pp. 53-54) appeared in the exhibition catalogue Exposition d’artistes italiens contemporains, accompanying the exhibition that opened at the Musée Rath in Geneva in February 1927.

² P. Fossati, “Il ruolo di Gigi Chessa pittore”, in Turin 1987-88, p. 21.

³ This theory can be found in Bovero 1965, p. 21, and P. Mantovani, “Per un catalogo generale della pittura di Gigi Chessa”, in Turin 1987-88, p. 252, no. 74.

⁴ On 26 May 1925, Chessa wrote to the director Barbantini: “I am very pleased to accept your invitation to exhibit at the Lido, but as I am almost completely absorbed in an important job, my recent production has been very limited and it is therefore impossible for me to hold a proper solo exhibition”; on 3 July, having rethought matters, he went on to write: “I have decided to send a larger number of paintings in keeping with your advice” (Venice, Archivio dell’Istituzione Bevilacqua La Masa, b. 1925).

⁵ Although different - because they included the original frame, which has now been replaced - they are still compatible with the current dimensions; see Venice, Archivio dell’Istituzione Bevilacqua La Masa, b. 1925.

⁶ Regarding the receipt (and subsequent return) of the work by the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna, see the documentation on I Sei di Torino exhibition, SMO 652, 653, Archivio dei Musei Civici, Turin.