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Art of the 20th Century
Felice Casorati
Felice Casorati
(b Novara, 4 Dec 1883; d Turin, 1 March 1963).
Italian painter, sculptor and printmaker. Casorati spent his formative years in Padua where he developed a passion for music and literature. He began to paint in 1902 but to please his mother he read law at the University of Padua, graduating in 1906. He continued to paint meanwhile and to frequent the studio of Giovanni Viannello (1873–1926). In 1907 he exhibited at the Venice Biennale and his Portrait of a Woman (Turin, priv. col., see 1985 exh. cat., p. 242), an elegant portrait of his sister Elvira, was praised by the jury. It is representative of his early works, which were marked by the influence of the Viennese Secession, Art Nouveau and Symbolism. From 1908 Casorati lived in Naples where he first saw works by Pieter Bruegel I at the Museo di Capodimonte. He was also in touch with contemporary northern European artistic circles. He continued to exhibit at the Venice Biennale where, in 1910, he met Gustav Klimt, whose work he had admired since 1905.
