Gino Severini

Bologna, Trimarchi Gallery (label and stamp on the reverse);

Milan, private collection.

This work is accompanied by the certificate of authenticity issued by Romana Severini Brunori.

Gino Severini’s 'Study for glass window of Christ-Roi Church, Geneve', has a fascinating material history and the work contains a variety of influences. On the authority of Romana Severini Brunori, Severini’s daughter, it was confirmed that the work was completed between 1956 and 1957. During this time, Severini was returning to the motifs that dominated his Futurist years, which had come to an abrupt end a decade earlier following the death of Filippo Marinetti in 1944. The revival of these Futurist elements is particularly noticeable in the work’s display of vibrant and contrasting colours. Similarly, the movement that derives from the dynamistic, compound shapes certainly fit into the Futurist oeuvre. While 'Study for glass window of Christ-Roi Church', does certainly hark back to a pre-established visual language, there is also a more surprising influence at play.

Again, confirmed by his daughter within the certificate of authenticity, the work is dedicated to Alexandre Cingria, who was painter, illustrator and close friend of Severini. Cingria is best known for his creation of the stained glass for the Church of Christ-Roi in Tavannes. This definitely inspired Severini’s 'Study for glass window of Christ-Roi Church', with the painting imitating the stained-glass windows through its strong linearity between the shapes, mimicking the lead came, which keeps stained-glass in place.

It is, therefore, no coincidence that Severini upon completing 'Study for glass window of Christ-Roi Church', gave it to a church with the same name – Church of Christ-Roi in Petit Lancy. Whilst this was not the same church, where Cingria designed the windows and from which Severini derived his inspiration for the work, nonetheless it created an artistic link between the two buildings. The Church of Christ-Roi in Petit Lancy was important in the 1950s, having been consecrated by Bishop François Charrière only three years prior to the painting’s completion. It was also considered at this time to be the most modern church in French-speaking Switzerland, a testament to its architects, André Bordigoni and Armand Chapatte. Serverini’s 'Study for glass window of Christ-Roi Church', would have fit perfectly into this setting, linking the church to the old, in its inspiration from Tavannes, and yet equally looking to the future with its bold shapes and colours.