Anita With A Fan - Luigi Brignoli (1881-1952)

Luigi Brignoli attended the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo as a student of Cesare Tallone and Ponziano Loverini and, for two years, the Accademia di Brera in Milan. In the meantime, he took part in numerous exhibitions, notably the International Art Exhibition in Venice twice, in 1907 and 1926[1]. He is appreciated for his landscapes in the Lombard tradition and enjoys great consideration as a portrait painter. Already in his forties, he was drawn to North Africa and in 1922 he went with Giorgio Oprandi to Biskra in Algeria, where he painted for several months. Then, in 1923, he moved to Tunisia, returning to his homeland the same year and successfully exhibiting his works of Orientalist painting executed in Africa at the Circolo Artistico Bergamasco. As an Orientalist painter, Brignoli shunned forms of exotic rhetoric, but revived his new environment through a meticulous search for colors and landscapes. In 1926, with Angiolo Alebardi, he exhibited at the Galleria Pesaro in Milan. The same year, he succeeded his master Loverini as director of the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, a position he held until 1945, when he was replaced by Funi. The same year, he married Anita Taramelli, with whom he would spend the rest of his life. Anita was his traveling companion in Belgium, Holland, Sardinia and Africa[2] In May 1934, he organized his personal exhibition Tripolitania, promoted by the Circolo Artistico Bergamasco. In 1942, he organized an exhibition at the Permanente in Milan with Cugusiini and Della Foglia.