Nicodemo, better known as Memo, Vagaggini was an Italian landscape painter and pioneer of the Magical Realism movement. Until October 25, Palazzo del Comune Vecchio in Bibbona is hosting a free exhibition featuring 30 of Vagaggini’s works, some of which have never been displayed to the public before.
The show was organized by the Bibbona LAB Cultural Association with funding from the Region of Tuscany and the Municipality of Bibbona and curated by Ambra Margheri and Marco Vendali with the collaboration of Alfio Bigiotti and Serena Galigani.
For August, the exhibition is open daily from 6 to 11 pm. For September it will be open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 6 to 11 pm. From September 19 to October 25, the show will be open only on Saturday and Sunday from 3 to 7:30 pm.
The art show titled, La Pittura tra Realtà e Sogno (Painting between Reality and Dream), takes visitors on a visual journey of Italy as perceived by Vagaggini. The majority of his paintings depict serene coastal scenes of Grosseto, where the artist was raised. Vagaggini was born in Santa Fiora, a small mountain village situated on Monte Amiata in Maremma. Adoration for the natural beauty of his childhood home is evident in Vagaggini’s work, conveying to viewers a sense of peaceful nostalgia.
Alongside the artist’s paintings, the exhibition displays a selection of Vagaggini’s photographs, personal items and publications that illustrate his career development during the early 20th century.
At a young age, Vagaggini taught himself to paint through observation of the natural scenery surrounding his hometown village in Tuscany. His use of light and shadow is precisely balanced, demonstrating influence of the Macchiaioli style – a movement established by Florentine artists in the 1850s as an act of rebellion against the rigidity of academic painting. Rather than creating within the confines of a classroom, these painters sought their subjects in the outside world, often depicting scenes of nature and quotidianità, the daily life.
Vagaggini painted as a method of storytelling, an attitude that lent itself naturally into his work as an illustrator. His most well known storybook designs are those adapted for the Corticelli-Mursia edition of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.
The Tuscan artist also found work as a painting instructor in 1924 at the Fine Arts Academy (Accademia di Belli Arti di Firenze). After accepting the job position, Florence became Vagaggini’s primary residence. In addition to teaching, he continued to produce significant artworks such as a series of frescoes on the life of St. Francis for the church of Castelnuovo in Arezzo. During this period he also frequently participated in major art exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale and the Rome Quadrenniale.
Evidently, Memo Vagaggini’s work has not fallen out of fashion. His paintings continue to be celebrated today for their aesthetic beauty and enduring emotional appeal. To learn more about the event, visit bibbonaturismo.it.
(Francesca Negri)
