Umberto Brunelleschi Biography
Umberto Brunelleschi (1879 - 1949) was a painter and set designer, a successful protagonist of the Belle Époque in Paris. Umberto, born near Pistoia, son of the insurer Pietro Brunelleschi and Benedetta Cappelli, as a boy decided not to follow his father's professional path and enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. In 1900 he left for Paris together with his friends Ardengo Soffici and Giovanni Costetti, on the pretext of visiting the Universal Exhibition. In reality Umberto remained in the city, where he began a promising career as an illustrator for fashion and satire magazines, such as Le Rire, Le Frou-frou and L'Assiette au beurre, signing the covers with the pseudonym of Aroun al Raxid. The French public was won over by his graceful and agile style, vibrant colors and confident lines, and Brunelleschi managed to show his Self-Portraits at the Salon des Indépendants. However, his illustrations are also highly appreciated in Italy. He began collaborating with the Giornalino della Domenica in 1906, and two years later he signed the Corriere dei Piccoli, a publication for which he developed some popular characters such as Frugolino and Coccoletta. At the Les Bouffes Parisiens theatre, he made his debut as a set designer in 1912 with Madame Rasini's ballet Légende du clair de lune. Two years later, he participated in his first exhibition at the Venice Biennale, where he continued to exhibit until 1938. Together with his wife Camille, Brunelleschi was the center of Parisian social life in this period. Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Gabriele D'Annunzio, André Derain and Ida Rubinstein often participate in the parties organized by the couple. Returning to Italy, he participated in the fighting during the First World War, continuing to draw for publications such as Il Numero and La Tradotta. He returned to Paris after the conflict and immersed himself in a frenetic activity of illustration, scenography and painting. In this period the artist also worked as an advertising graphic designer and created sketches for Fiat and for Van Houten cocoa.
