Luigi Lucioni (1900 - 1988)

The Tang Figure, oil on canvas, 17 x 14, 1939, signed and dated lower left, titled and dated 5/8/40 verso: exhibited at Paintings by James Chapin, John R. Grabach and Luigi Lucioni, at the Montclair Art Museum (Montclair, New Jersey) from October 3 to October 27, 1940, no.44, provenance:  Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Spanierman Gallery (New York) and Godel & Co. Gallery (New York) (labels verso); listed in Embury, Stuart P.,  The Art and Life of Luigi Lucioni: A Contribution Towards a Catalog Raisonne, 2006, no. 40.13, p. 160, presented in a newer frame.

$15,000

Luigi Lucioni was one of America's best-known realist painters of the 20th century. He was particularly well regarded for his carefully crafted still life paintings, such as The Tang Figure. In reviewing an exhibition at the California Legion of Honor in 1941, Alfred Frankenstein, art critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, noted approvingly, "Lucioni has a gift of photogrphic realism in a most advanced and sensational form. There is probably no easel painter in America who can beat him at literal representation ... His drawing and his surface finish are the last word in perfection, his rich color is splendidly harmonized, and his composition is always alert and meantingful... One senses behind his work the completely sophisticated mind of a man of our own world and time who owes much to the inspriration of the Italian renaissance."

Born in Italy, Lucioni immigrated to the United States in 1911, first settling in Bergen, New Jersey, but also maintaining a studio in New York's Washington Square. Later in life, Lucioni also painted extensively in Vermont. He attended evening classes at the Cooper Union and studied at the National Academy of Design between 1920 and 1925. Lucioni trained privately with William Starkweather and won a Tiffany Foundation Scholarship which resulted in further study in Italy. He was an Associate Member of the National Academy of Design and a member of the Southern Vermont Artists. Throughout his long career, he was a mainstay in national exhibitions, including at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Academy of Design, the Corcoran Gallery, the Carnegie Institute, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. He was commercially sucessful with representation from Ferargil Gallery, Walker Gallery, Associated American Artists, Milch Gallery and Hirschl & Adler Gallery toward the end of his life. His paintings also won popular vote prizes at significant exhibitions such as at the Carnegie Institute.

Lucioni's popular appeal was likely driven by the constancy and directness of his approach. In 1952, he wrote, "My philosophy of art is a fairly simple one. I am completely 'laisser faire' [sic], respecting all trends of painting, if not always understanding them. I do not wish to impose my own individual viewpoints on others and only ask that I may be allowdd the same privilege. I believe in no 'isms' and respect the sincertity in painting. I attribute sincerity to all works of art ... My fundatmental belief is to paint life as I see it in all its forms, but I also believe in superb craftwmanship and have based my ideas of the craftsmanship on the works of the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries."

Lucioni's works are in the permanent collections of over two dozen museums. He is listed in Who Was Who in American Art and all other standard references.