CARLO LEVI

In the twenties, the Levi family bought a villa in Alassio, where the painter spent all his holidays and which became a sort of refuge for him. The painting depicts the Regina Elena beachfront esplanade, with miniscule figures involved in everyday activities, and everything seems suspended in time. The refined and delicate hues chosen by the artist are typical of post-impressionism and show the artist’s definitive departure from the influence of Casorati.
In late 1928, the artistic movement known as the Sei di Torino [the ‘Group of Six’ or the ‘Six from Turin’, TN], a group of painters which, in addition to Levi, also included the Genoese Enrico Paulucci, Jessie Boswell, an Englishwoman who moved to Italy in 1906, Nicola Galante, an engraver from Abruzzi, Francesco Menzio, born in Sardinia of Piedmontese parents, and Gigi Chessa, a native of Turin. After having studied with Felice Casorati, they followed a similar artistic path until 1931. The works created by the group are reminiscent of the style of Cézanne and Matisse, the Macchiaioli and Manet, with an eye towards Europe, in complete contrast with Italian art of the period, which was rhetorical and nationalistic.