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11/20/2007: "My early drawings"

At my last exhibition in Rome, Professore Arturo Carlo Quintavalle persuaded me to show a large selection of drawings I never presented in public before.
I was'nt sure about this decision since the drawings in question dated back to the mid 1940s' in other words back to an age before I became (I think) a painter. Now that that choice has been made, and since I firmly believe that when I write I am at my very best when I talk about my works, let me talk about those early drawings. As in my next blog I will talk, probably with more confidence, about later paintings.

(PS
Before starting this blog let me say a big thanks to our friend Andrew and my son Mario for helping me out in the task of replying to my last blog's comments. Thanks!)

More than a real album of drawings this was rather a series of individual sketches that my sister Leda brought me from the agricultural consortium where she was employed. They were actually bills, or receipts, that I used on the blank side to make the sketches. I had a passion for drawing, so she brought me the paper. I have always drawn, ever since I was a child. I sketched my first two drawings, I believe, when I was seven or eight years old and, unlike the drawings that most children make, they portrayed two old men in 'tapparella', that is, wearing overcoats and sticks. I watched them from the garden of my house as they climbed toward the Abbey on the mountain to eat a simple meal with the monks. My mother folded them and put them in her bag, perhaps imagining that she had discovered a talent in her child. Those drawings certainly made a strong impression on her.

When I made the other drawings, in 1943, I was about 15 years old. The whole series dates from when I was about 14 to 16 years old. After that, I kept on drawing on sheets of paper and typing paper, and I continued to go around with a notepad for years, as painters did in those days. Then the subject-matter changed. While my attention was first drawn to what I saw, it then changed when I started to understand something about art, glancing through catalogues belonging to my uncle, who was a painter. These were catalogues from the Biennale exhibition in Venice or the Roman Quadriennale. Here I discovered Rosai, Sironi, Fattori, Degas and saw the world through their eyes. Then everything changed again. I came into contact with the Romans, especially with Muccini, and I had other stimuli and interests, and became immersed in the problems of painting. There are also strange connections between my 'popularesque' works and compositions that are almost abstract.

Some of my drawings, if it wasn't for mere hints of human forms, could pass for abstract works. Young people come into contact with different things, quickly learning how to capture the significance of a look, to observe, catalogue, and compose. Perhaps what seems to emerge from these beginnings is that, despite this to-ing and fro-ing from one thing to another, as a young man should, there is always the same 'tension', and you can see that these are all my drawings. This means that, on the one hand, you gain technical skill, your ability as a draughtsman becomes sharper, and on the other, that the image itself takes shape, what I call, in a rather archaic way, the poetic world of an artist, which he feels imprecisely, but very strongly, within himself. If you observe these drawings, they are partly influenced by Mondrian, and partly by Masaccio. This might seem foolish, but it isn't. I say Masaccio because the figures are placed among houses, in squares, in the centre of the composition, and this is Longhi's idea in the critique that I had read, entitled Fatti di Masolino e Masaccio. Longhi says that Masaccio plants a nail in the wall and his figures are placed in perspective, while in Masolino everything is still flat. On the other hand, in my drawings there is a geometrical way of composing, with rhythmically spaced rays of light and subject-matter in an almost abstract style.

The 1951-52 drawings are quite different. I was more skilled in creating them, but even here there is a moment of artistic development. They are not drawings taken from life, but are imaginary. I wanted to portray the sense of light, space and movement. I wanted to experiment. In other cases there are sketches taken from life, such as the one with the lizard in the foreground, from 1951, which was perhaps inspired by Dùrer."
Alberto Sughi
(translated by Joelle Crowle)

For more info on Alberto Sughi see. www.albertosughi.com

Replies: 12 Comments

on Monday, December 10th, Odette Farrell said

Alberto,

I wish you a quick recovery...

Your drawings are amazing, I loved in particular the ones you made when you were a teenager. I wish I could see them in real...maybe in a future I will. I am going to live in Europe next year!

on Sunday, December 9th, jose said

Thank you Mario, I wish Alberto a speedy recovery.

on Friday, December 7th, mario said

Hi Brad and hi everybody
I was able to talk to Jodi during the week and explained her that Alberto unfortunatly has not been very well. Now he is recovering and I am sure he will be back at work and at his/your arts blog at some stage, hopefully, soon.
Thanks again
Mario

on Friday, December 7th, BradMM said

We'll just be happy to hear from Alberto again, the next time... Thank you Mario, for your effort and contribution.

on Saturday, November 24th, mario sughi said

Dear all
I was hoping to have Alberto's responses to all the comments of his blog by today. However and I apologise this has not been possible. I will post Alberto's answers as soon as I will receive them.
Thanks
Mario

on Thursday, November 22nd, mario sughi said

As in the previous blog as soon as I will get them from Alberto, I will post his answers, still in Italian, on the blog. Then Andrew or myself will translate them into English and post them here again!
Hopefully it will not take too long.
Thanks
Mario

on Thursday, November 22nd, Brad Michael Moore said

Enlightening topic to share with us, Alberto. It was grace that you had an uncle who's work you could look into at such an impressionable age. I always take heart in hearing what method of ignition takes hold of creatives - and when. I took guitar lessons early on and failed to advance musically to any true level. However, I had no guidance as an image gatherer, and still, I found my way to a professional, and fine art level. While I found many influencing mentors from my 20s on - my primary path was already set during my formative years... During the ages between 6 and 16, I had only raw emotions to draw upon in pursuing creative quests. So, as an example, I tried to capture an image that moved me in the same way as I remembered feeling when my Great Grandmother would hold me in her lap, when I was small. If, as some have said, making art is like making love - one must first be loved - and from that connection comes those expressions relevant to your imagination. I envy you in your opportunities taken, and experienced, in such cherished times your life keeps contemporary to our Art History. Finally, God smiles through the eyes of a child who can see...

on Wednesday, November 21st, Ellen said

WONDERFUL drawings, Alberto! I believe that, in many cases, drawings are the key to the artist's thought processes and point of view. Often, I would rather look at drawings or the sketches for a finished work than the work itself. Durer is a personal God. Looking at Turner's drawings are very instructive as juxtapose his loose style in a fabulous way. I find that I gain far more insight into the artist in this way. I began drawing at the age of 4. It is still my favorite medium of expression. Love your blogs and your art, Alberto, thanks!

on Wednesday, November 21st, Mark said

Elizabeth, I do not mean to answer for Alberto, but as an artist for over thirty years my advice is to draw, draw, draw, and draw some more. One can never do enough, this for any type of art you create.

Sorry to answer for you Alberto.

on Tuesday, November 20th, Hermes Hernandez said

Your drawings are superb...
as a Artist Painting my self I started drawing at the age of 5,we born being Artist...Thanks for sharing.
Hermes Hernandez
Myspace.com
famesource.com

on Tuesday, November 20th, elizabeth said

Hello M. Sughi,

This is a great honor to correspond with you. I recently discovered your artwork on absolutearts website and am in awe of your tremendous ability to communicate emotion on canvas.

Your work is beautiful, powerful and moves me the way work of the great masters moves me. I wish I could see them--the colors--in real life to get the full impact.

It is marvelous how you incorporate line (drawing) into the painting. One of my favorites is a charcoal of a woman sitting on the sofa bored while her husband(?) reads in a chair. The mood in this piece is palpable. The woman is very bored, even lonely, and her companion is completely unaware of her needs. A great emptiness of silence is there. I love that!

Thank you for writing to us through absolutearts and your blog. I will have to find your blog. Gracias, gracias many times over for creating beautiful art works that speak so strongly and are so gorgeous.

Do you still draw every day?
Do you have any advise for a beginner?

elizabeth Dallas, Texas
www.absolutearts.com/portfolios/e/ekbogard

on Tuesday, November 20th, olivier said

ps Alberto: did you know Mondrian at that time? I see so much more of a Pont Aven influence, in other world have you ever been painting in pure abstraction during the fifties? Perhaps I should first go to your web page to learn more about you work I discovered here on these pages.
Sorry to interfer but I beleive Masaccio has been put in place of Masolino and vice versa. Correct me if I am wrong but I beleive Masolino use figures in perspective, he has been trained as a sculptor if I am right, where Masaccio painted more "flat" groups.
Masacio was the artist who put the art back on the right track according to Vasari, one of the best drawer of the time. Now if you consider the painting showing the opening of Del carmine church. A late work in the only 26 years of life of the artist, yes you may find me wrong in this famous piece plan are very well structured in perspective, is there another like that in his work?