Angelo Torchi – Wikipedia

Angelo (Angiolo) Torchi (Massa Lombarda, 8 November 1856 – Massa Lombarda, 6 December 1915) was an Italian painter.

He was born in Massa Lombarda in angiata family of landowners, according to four children, from the countess of origins Faentine Maria Laderchi and by the lawyer Gaetano, who had held the positions of prior and mayor between 1862 and 1874 ^[first] .

In 1869 he moved to Florence, enrolling in the artistic institute founded in that year, where he has as masters Karlo Markó and Lorenzo Gelati, exponents of the Staggia school who educated students to play subjects in the open air, theme similar to the canons Verists of the Macchiaiolo movement. He spends 1880 with his friend Attilio Pratella in Naples, where he comes into contact with art realist of the local school under the guidance of Alceste Campiani ^[2] , belonging to the School of Resìna, also linked to the green themes.

Back in Florence, in 1883 he participated in the Brera Promoter with March sun , In rice field , Naples at the Villa Reale It is Reason for Capri ^[3] , in 1885 with April on the Arno , May on the Arno It is In Risoja, after the harvest ^[4] ; The following year he is at the first Livornese exhibition in close contact with the Macchiaiolo environment that he attended the Volturno in via S. Gallo in the tavern. He attended Telemaco Signorini, Silvestro Lega, Francesco Gioli and the art critic Diego Martelli (of which he is a guest in the Castiglioncello estate), who urge him to send him Ortolane , The cage It is On the Arno At the Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1889, a city in which it comes into contact with the works of the impressionist and Puntinist artists. In this period he paints between the Livorno hinterland ( The cage valley ) and the native Romagna countryside ( Campestre road in Massa Lombarda ).

In 1890 he traveled to London, where he came into contact with John Constable’s works; Returning to Florence, illustrates the novel Perla in the collection The vigils of blacks by Renato Fucini ^[5] ,
while the following year he is present at the exhibition of the Promoter of Florence with Impression of a market , the work of a clear impressionist mold.
In this period he stays in Genoa with friends Pliny Nomellini and Giorgio Kienerk ^[6] , abandon the style of postmacchiaioli and embraces
the divisionist poetics, evident in Granturco on the AIA proposed to the Livornese exhibition of 1892 ^[7] .

Between 1895 and 1896 he is deeply shaken by the disappearance of friends Silvestro Lega and Diego Martelli and returns to Massa Lombarda, where he mainly reproduces the landscapes of his land.

Participate in the Turin National Exhibition of 1898 with To the song of the cicadas , Montanina quiet It is Sun among the olive trees , to the exhibitions of the Venice Biennale in 1899 with Tuscan twilight It is To the Rezzo delle Quercie ^[8] , in 1901 with the divisionist September morning , in 1903 with Spring clouds on the green ^[9] , in 1905 with Landscape ^[ten] , in 1912 with I bun in the sun and in 1914 with Portrait of old man , last appearance of the living artist.

He died in Massa Lombarda in 1915 from a cardiovascular collapse ^[11] and is buried in the local cemetery; In 1921 the body was moved to the cemetery of S. Miniato al Monte in Florence, where he rests next to his parents.

Generically cataloged as belonging to the current of postmacchiaioli ^[twelfth] In reality, the pictorial activity of the Torchi is left in three main phases: the first, dated until 1889, in close relationship with the Macchiaiola painting, a second (until 1895) of a divisionist mold, the last of symbolist naturalism, characterized by a voluminous brushstroke.

After the academic formation spent with Lorenzo Gelati, the architect of innovative landscape school marked on the observation of the truth, the meeting with Alceste Campriani leads to an orientation towards new effects of light and color and the one with the main Macchiaioli exponents of his time at one of his autonomous interpretation enriched by impressionist influences.

The uniform phase dates back to Genoese stays with friends Pliny Nomellini and Giorgio Kienerk (the so -called Albaro school ^[13] and stands out for the adoption of a minute brushstroke ( Wheat in the sun or granuver on the agea ), looking for strong light effects.
The last period, marked by the disappearance of its artistic references, is mainly made up of Tuscan and Romagna landscapes with experiments of symbolist painting to which Nomellini also adheres.

• Ponte alla Staggia (1875-1880), oil on canvas, private collection;
• Entrance to the farmhouses (1875-1880), oil on canvas, private collection;
• Self -portrait (1880), oil on canvas, Carlo Venturini cultural center of Massa Lombarda ^[14] ;
• The crest of the Apennines from Palazzolo di Romagna (1880-1889), oil on canvas, private collection;
• Tram the horses (1881), oil on canvas, private collection;
• Reading in the garden (the painter’s sister) (1882), oil on canvas, private collection;
• In rice field after the harvest (1883), oil on canvas, modern art gallery of Florence;
• In Mergellina or Reason for Capri (1883), oil on canvas, private collection;
• Fishermen in the valley (1884), oil on canvas, private collection;
• The cage valley (1886), oil on canvas, private collection;
• The great trunk (last rays in September) (1887), oil on canvas, private collection;
• Ortolane (1887-1888), oil on canvas, Carlo Venturini cultural center of Massa Lombarda ^[15] ;
• View of the country (1890-1899), oil on canvas, Modern Art Gallery of Florence;
• Granturco on the AIA (wheat in the sun) (1891), Pinacoteca of the Cassa di Risparmio di Tortona Foundation ^[7] ;
• Impression of a market (1891), oil on canvas, private collection;
• Pergola (1891), oil on canvas, private collection;
• Snowfall (1891), oil on canvas, private collection;
• The red tram (1895), oil on canvas, private collection;
• Risaiole (1900-1910), Oil on canvas, Modern Art Gallery of Florence ^[16] ;
• The terrace (1900-1910), Oil on canvas, Modern Art Gallery of Florence ^[17] ;
• Self -portrait (1905-1906), Pastel on paper, Modern Art Gallery of Florence ^[18] ;
• Portrait of woman (1912), Oil on canvas, Modern Art Gallery of Florence ^[19] ;
• Portrait of old man with long beard (not dated), oil on canvas, Carlo Venturini cultural center of Massa Lombarda ^[20] ;
• On (not dated), oil on canvas, private collection;
• Wood (not dated), oil on canvas, private collection;
• Landscape in the hill (figure in the pink) (not dated), oil on canvas, private collection;
• Piazza Mazzini at sunset (not dated), oil on canvas, private collection;
• Pagliai (Massese countryside) (not dated), oil on board, private collection;
• Portrait of Signorina (not dated), oil on canvas, modern art gallery in Florence;
• Winter evening in Florence (not dated), oil on canvas, private collection;
• Reason for Castiglioncello (not dated), oil on canvas, private collection;

• Virgilio Guzzi, Torchs, angel , in Italian Encyclopedia , Rome, Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia, 1937. URL consulted on December 15, 2015 .
• vol. I, p. 413, vol. II, p. 134, Divisionism in Italian painting , edited by Fortunato Bellonzi, Fabbri, Milan, 1967.
• tav. XXXVIII, Archives of the divisionism collected and ordered , edited by Fortunato Bellonzi and Teresa Fiori, Officina Edizioni, Rome, 1969.
• vol. XI, p. 115, Bolaffi Encyclopedic Dictionary of Italian painters and engravers. From the 11th to the 20th century , edited by AA.VV, Bolaffi, Turin, 1973.
• Elisabetta Matucci and Paola Longs (a care of), The Macchiaioli by Renato Fucini – Cabinet G. P. Vieusseux, Catalog Exhibition Palazzo Strozzi of 1985 , critical texts by Raffaele Monti and Geno Pampaloni, Florence, Edizioni Pananti, 1985, pp. 147-148 and 153, ISBN not existing.
• Piero Dini, Alberto Tabanelli, Angelo Torchi’s art , Dolomia publishing art, Trento 1990
• pp.60-61, I Postmacchiaioli , edited by Raffaele Monti and Giuliano Matteucci, De Luca, Rome, 1991.