Walther Jervolino
| Walter Jervolino | |
|---|---|
 Walther Jervolino in 1986 with one of his masterpieces, "The Babel Tower" Walter Jervolino with one of his masterpieces, "The Babel tower" | |
| Born |
1 March 1944 Bondeno, Italy |
| Died |
12 July 2012 (aged 68) San Mauro Torinese, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Education |
Giacomo Soffiantino, Mario Calandri |
| Known for | Painting, Drawing, Printmaking |
| Notable work | "Der kramps auf der brÜcke"(1977),"The Babel tower" (1995) |
| Movement | Surrealism, Hyper-realism |
| Spouse(s) | Alessandra Maria Filipello (1950) |
Walther Jervolino (1 March 1944—12 July 2012) was an Italian painter and artist,[1] mainly known for his Surrealist works.
Early life and education
Walther Jervolino was born in 1944 in Bondeno, Italy, a small village near Ferrara. His name was an hommage to the German doctor that saved his mother's life during the birth. He studied art under Italian realist painters Mario Calandri and Giacomo Soffiantino,[2] favoring oil painting as well as the engraving techniques.
Career
He began his professional career in the late 1960s in Paris, London and in Milan, where he lived for several years. He later perfected his technique in the Roman studio of Riccardo Tommasi Ferroni, one of the major Italian artists. Since then, Jervolino increased his connections with countries throughout Europe, and also lived for long periods in the United States, where he exhibited his works at the Art Expo in New York, Miami and Los Angeles.
Works
Walther Jervolino's early works were deeply influenced by the visual style of Giorgio de Chirico, Salvador Dalì and Max Ernst which he later combined with that of several Medieval and Renaissance Painters, such as Hieronymous Bosch and Caravaggio. His unique technique, derived from years of personal study of Renaissance materials, colours and chemistry together with Postmodern art, produced in the first 80's masterpieces as "Gianduja and Giandujotto", "The death of Pinocchio", "The collector" and "The Babel tower".
His works started to be to appreciated outside Europe, and thanks to his perfect English, Jervolino lived through Italy, where his family lived, and the United States, where many of his paintings were exposed, receiving several positive reviews on magazines.
In his later period, becoming even more accurate and perfectionist, Walther Jervolino enhanced his engraving techniques and started experimenting a singular technique where figures or characters come out from the painting during a sort of art performance.
His last works, such as "The invisible cities", present a return to the myth and to his first surrealistic oils on canvas.
Most of his works are exhibited at prestigious galleries in Europe[3] and in the United States.
"Pinocchio's death"
His major masterpiece remains "A probable death of Pinocchio", a project he had been drawing out throughout his life. Deeply influenced by the main protagonist of the 1883 children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi, an Italian writer, he tried to conceive an alternative destiny for Pinocchio, which was guilty, according to Jervolino, of being a traitor towards his father, Geppetto. Therefore he presented several oil on canvas and engravings figuring Pinocchio being decapitated or murdered with arrows. The hangman who always executes Pinocchio is similar to Jervolino's features, thus depicting a personal revenge of the painter against the "devil" Pinocchio.
References
- ↑ Zuliani Stefania, Figure dell'arte 1950-2000, ISBN 9788874190157
- ↑ http://www.ombrifinearts.com/Jervolino/Walther_Jervolino_Biography/walther_jervolino_biography.htm
- ↑ La Stampa, 02/05/2003