G. Guidi Biography
Giuseppe Guidi (1881 - 1931) was a painter, etchist and renovator of enamel painting on metal, highly appreciated, especially for this latest expressive form, by Gabriele D'Annunzio. As many as 35 of his works in enamelled copper are preserved at the Vittoriale in Gardone. An artist evidently influenced by the European panorama of early twentieth-century decorative arts, especially of the Central European variety, Guidi extended their destinies well beyond the limits defined by official historiography, combining them with cautious expressionist exasperations. Born in Castel Bolognese, of modest origins, Giuseppe Guidi soon abandoned his studies and, in 1902, also his family to stay, carrying out occasional and precarious jobs, first in Trieste, a city from which he was expelled for his manifest anarchist sympathies, and then to Vienna, Budapest and Paris. In 1908 he settled in Milan where he attended evening art courses in Brera together with the Faenza ceramist Pietro Melandri. He began collaborating, as an illustrator, for magazines such as Per l'Arte and L'Eroica. From 1912 he devoted himself fully to painting and engraving (etching) studies. In 1916 and 1917 he participated in the Permanent Exhibition of Brera. From 1918 he also dedicated himself to the art of enamel on copper of which he became a profound connoisseur. In 1923 he exhibited the etchings at the Galleria La Vinciana in Milan and Adolfo Wildt presented his solo exhibition at the Bottega dell'Arte in Livorno. In 1924 he exhibited 64 enamels on copper at the Pesaro Gallery and Gabriele D'Annunzio purchased the Via Crucis that he had commissioned. In 1925 he participated in the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris and obtained the Gold Medal. In 1926 he was present with some works at the First Exhibition of the Italian Twentieth Century and began teaching engraving at the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. In 1927 he participated in the III International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Monza and in 1930 in the Venice Biennale. His career was abruptly ended by his premature death.
