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Abstract painting of world globe in pale gold and cream on dark blue background with Luigi Pericle. Ad Astra in whtie font

Luigi Pericle. Ad Astra

Edited by Carole Haensler
Preface by Tobia Bezzola
Contributions by Andrea Biasca-Caroni
Contributions by Greta Biasca-Caroni
Contributions by Carole Haensle
Contributions by Andreas Kilcher
Contributions by Michele Tavola

£35.00

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  • The first book to explore Swiss artist Luigi Pericle’s engagement with the spiritual environment and tradition of Monte Verità and to investigate his understanding of abstraction in art and his own syncretism of modern esotericism and spirituality
  • Pericle was a universally interested and gifted personality, self-taught illustrator and painter, man of letters, mystic, theosophist, and intellectual
  • Luigi Pericle’s fascinating work in painting and drawing has recently been rediscovered and is enjoying increasing interest internationally
  • Text in English, German and Italian
Full Description

Luigi Pericle (1916–2001) was a rare talent—a self-taught illustrator and painter, a man of letters, mystic, theosophist, and intellectual whose work and legacy eludes any categorization. Under his proper name Pericle Luigi Giovanetti he had great success as an illustrator and cartoonist in the 1950s. His cartoons were published worldwide in daily newspapers, such as the Washington Post or Herald Tribune, as well as in satirical magazines like Punch. His comic strip Max the Marmot, published in newspapers and books, was hugely popular across Europe, the United States, and Japan.

In 1958, he turned to explore abstract expression through painting and ink drawing. He quickly gained international recognition as an artist and his paintings were exhibited in gallery and museum shows in Britain and Switzerland during the 1960s. Yet recognition was not what he was looking for, and he disappeared voluntarily from the art world to lead an increasingly secluded life dedicated entirely to his art and writing. His home Casa San Tomaso on the legendary Monte Verità in Ascona, in southern Switzerland, offered ideal surroundings for an artist so strongly drawn to spirituality.

Luigi Pericle. Ad Astra, published to coincide with a major exhibition at the MASI Museo d’arte della Svizzera italiana in Lugano, offers a fresh look at how the spiritual environment and tradition of Monte Verità influenced Pericle as an artist and how Asian calligraphy and Zen Buddhism were influential to his drawing practice. Moreover, the book investigates Pericle’s understanding of abstraction in art and his own syncretism of modern mysticism.

Text in English, German and Italian.

About the Author

Carole Haensler is an art historian and director of Museo Villa dei Cedri in Bellinzona, Switzerland.

Specifications
Publisher
Scheidegger & Spiess
ISBN
9783039420223
Published
24th May 2021
Binding
Hardback
Territory
World excluding Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Puerto Rico, United States, Canada, and Japan
Size
285 mm x 245 mm
Pages
192 Pages
Illustrations
120 color, 7 b&w
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