1920s Italian Signed Drawing Portrait

Rare and important pencil drawing by one of the most important Italian Avangarde Lorenzo Viani.
It represent one of his typical subject: the portrait of the people of Viareggio, his wonderful Tuscan city.

This artwork, never before on the market, comes from an important private collection and is beautified by an original frame in natural wood, in almost perfect condition.

Certificate of authenticity issued by Sabrina Egidi official Expert in Italian furniture for the Chamber of Commerce of Rome and for the Rome Civil Courts.

The painting is also protected by glass

Active in Viareggio in the first half of the 20th century, he is regarded as one of the greatest exponents of Italian expressionism.
Lorenzo Viani was born in Viareggio on 1 November in Via della Fornace where he spent his childhood between the docks and the palace.
He attended primary schools, but only up to the third grade
In 1893, he was put to work in the workshop of barber Fortunato Primo Puccini, where he met painter Plinio Nomellini, who had a positive influence on his artistic maturation, and on his advice, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lucca.
In 1904, he was admitted to the Free School of Nude at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.
Returning to Viareggio, he settled in Torre del Lago and joined the 'Compagnia della Bohème' and during this period Viani exhibited some drawings at the 7th Venice Biennale and at the National Exhibition of Humour Art in Messina.
In early 1908 he went to Paris, where he visited the Van Gogh retrospective at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune. After a short stay in the Fleury house, he lived in la Ruche, rue Dantzig.

He made a second trip to Paris and returned to Italy in May 1913, establishing new friendships in the Futurist milieu of “Lacerba”, in particular with Giovanni Papini, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Giosuè Borsi and Ottone Rosai.
In February 1915 Viani supported Cesare Battisti during a tumultuous rally at the Politeama in Viareggio and exhibited ten woodcuts at the III Roman Secession.
Between October and November he exhibited 624 works at the Palazzo delle Aste in Milan with the support of Francesco Ciarlantini.
The exhibition started in a worldly setting and was warmly received by the public and critics.
In 1916, he was called up for war, participating in various war exploits and was discharged in 1919.

In consideration of his artistic merits, he was awarded the teaching of ornamentation at the Istituto d'arte oggi Passaglia in Lucca.
In 1927, the Monumento ai Caduti per la Patria “I Galeottus” (Monument to the Fallen for the Homeland) was inaugurated in Viareggio, an absolutely innovative work of extraordinary expressiveness.
In 1928, he exhibited 11 works at the 16th Venice Biennale and a large selection of his production at Villa Paolina in Viareggio.
In this exhibition, presented by Margherita Sarfatti, the Great Dormitory, a summa of all the characters glimpsed or frequented at the Ruche, was exhibited.
He became an artist known throughout Italy and his exhibitions were an essential meeting place for a cultured and international public.

During this period he painted Georgica (or The Works of the Sea, the Cycle and the Earth) and participated with great success in the 17th Venice Biennale with Georgica and Veliero, as well as in various Futurist evenings: his solo exhibition at Villa Paolina in Viareggio was inaugurated with a speech by Marinetti.
Viani exhibited Il volto santo (now in the Viareggio Municipal Museum) at the I Quadriennale in Rome in 1931.
He worked with great fervour on panels for the Viareggio railway station, had a solo exhibition at the Galleria Ferroni in Florence and at the inauguration of the Viani Gallery in the house in Fossa dell'Abate (today's Lido di Camaiore), which he inherited from his wife.
His poor health did not prevent him from exhibiting at the 19th Venice Biennale, in Viareggio, Lucca, at the 2nd Quadriennale in Rome and at the Lyceum in Florence.
In 1936, he was commissioned to paint a series of marine-themed paintings for the “IV Novembre” College in Ostia and, after several days of non-stop frenetic work, he was unable to attend the inauguration.
Viani was an extraordinary and exemplary figure of the cultural and intellectual flowering that characterised Tuscany and all of Italy at the turn of the 19th and 20th century.


Dimensions are frame included