“…we watch spring grow from the windows and the swift change of the sky and the greens, and we enjoy ourselves as if at the theatre”.
Osvaldo Licini (letter – 1932)
11 October 1958. Venice. In a hall of the 29th Art Biennale a laurel wreath is laid down. It is the tribute of the cultural world to the painter Osvaldo Licini and to his art, represented in that hall by 53 works on display.
11 October 1958. Monte Vidon Corrado (Fermo). In his beloved home Osvaldo Licini dies at the age of 64. Like a modern Federico Barocci who in the 16th century had left Rome to take refuge in his Urbino and there express his art, Licini had left what in his time was artistically the “center of the world”, namely Paris, to take refuge with his wife Nanny Hellström in his Monte Vidon Corrado, in the family home, in the quiet of the Marche hills.
In this house, located in the center of the town, next to the town hall, Licini had his roots because here he was born and raised.
In the town hall building there is the Study Center dedicated to the artist, founded in 1986 on the initiative of the Municipality and the Marche Region to promote research, conferences, exhibitions and cultural initiatives, to make Osvaldo Licini’s work known and valued. The Study Center manages Licini’s assets, first of all the house, on behalf of the Municipality of Monte Vidon Corrado, which is the owning body.
The visit to Casa Licini
The house is a manor residence of eighteenth-century origin, arranged over three levels. The cellar, which today hosts temporary exhibitions, has a brick vaulted ceiling. Here Licini prepared the colors for his works, and here it is said he held political meetings.
On the ground floor there is the kitchen, where two wooden doors are displayed, once part of a cupboard on which Licini painted a stylized flower and horse.
In the living room, furnished with carved wooden furniture of Swedish origin, two paintings significant to Licini are displayed: Portrait of the Mother (oil on canvas, 1922) and Landscape (oil on canvas, 1927). Two works that speak of family roots and the Marche landscape: the two reasons why Licini chose to return to live in his hometown after his long stay in Paris.
The upper floor is reached via a stairwell whose ceiling features a mural painting made by Licini himself in the mid-1940s.
On the first floor are the sleeping area and the artist’s studio with easels, paints, brushes, exhibition posters, the desk and the bed where Licini often painted half-reclining to rest his disabled leg.
In Caterina’s room, the adopted daughter of the artist’s wife, there are instead some works by his wife Nanny.
In the story of the house, the leading role obviously belongs to the man and artist Licini, but it is also worth exploring the interesting figure of his wife Nanny, who had an uncommon culture and who certainly played an important role not only in the life but also in the art of her husband Osvaldo.
Nanny, in addition to the Swedish furniture, also brought many objects such as the typical colored little horses, wooden caskets, jugs, candlesticks, family photos and the model of her childhood home displayed in the living room.
The couple’s bedroom is a work of art in Constructivist style, with the bed wall on which Licini created a mural painting.
HOUSE MUSEUM DETAILS
Osvaldo Licini House Museum
Piazza O. Licini, 9 – 63836 Monte Vidon Corrado (FM)
INFORMATION
www.centrostudiosvaldolicini.it
