Utente:Giaccai/formazione/8marzo 16/Chiara Carletti
Margherita Pavesi Mazzoni (Milan, 4 September 1930 – Montepulciano, 25 November 2010)
was an Italian painter, sculptress and poetess.
Early life and education
Born in Milan, Margherita Pavesi Mazzoni was attracted to music and figurative painting from
an early age. In 1961 she met Aldo Carpi, who was at the time director of the Academy of Fine
Arts of Brera, and became his student; during these years she dedicated her artistic research to
figurative and expressionist art. Given her promise, she was selected to attend the school of Aldo
Salvadori in both Milan and Bergamo. In the 1950s she participated in many collective
exhibitions in Italy and, in the following decade, she presented her works in solo exhibitions in
Italy and abroad. In the first years of the 1970s she moved to Florence where she trained in
xylographic (woodcut) technique at the studio of Pietro Parigi (1). During her travels to
Germany, Belgium and Holland she deepened her knowledge of the Expressionists. Settling in
Tuscany, she became fascinated with the painters of the Scuola Senese and with the Romanic art
present in the Mediaeval churches and abbeys scattered throughout the Tuscan countryside.
Influenced by the powerful visual art of the Expressionists, in addition to her interest for pre-
historic and African art, she began to explore the condensation of the meaning in symbolic
images (2). Her artistic experimentation combined, in the following years, with a more spiritual
approach. She met padre Giovanni Vannucci, who became for her a guide in her development
towards a religious and ecumenical point of view (3). In 1973 she established her residence in
Montepulciano, where she lived for the rest of her life surrounded by the beauty of the Tuscan
hills. She dedicated one of her last exhibitions to the memory of her beloved late husband, her
children and grandchildren, her friends and all the people who had accompanied her in the long
mysterious and powerful path of life (4).
Her art
Non tra fiamme e scintille ho vissuto il mio sogno
Ma in perenne incendio d’amore
Not among flames and sparks have I lived my dream,
But in the perennial fire of love. (5)
Fascinated by a primordial, simple and concise artistic medium, she often privileged earth tone,
dense colours, materic painting and wooden supports. The use of terra tonalities and “mystical”
colours such as gold reveals a deep connection with the historic tradition of religious icons and
with Biblical topics. In an interview she affirmed: “my sculptures are a mix of dreams and
utopias, they are the ultimate conclusion of my search for a sense in life” (6).
In her Autobiografia cromatica (2010), written shortly before her death, she described her artistic
palette as being based on three primary colours: Black, White and Gold. These colours
correspond to the three different periods of the artist’s life: Black for the ardent enthusiasm of
youth and its natural disappointments, White for personal and artistic maturity, and Gold when
the artists has reached the apex of a cosmic spirituality (7).
She worked throughout her life with different techniques: fresco, mixed media, painting on
wood, sculpture, charcoal drawing, sacred icons, xylography (woodcut), oil on canvas and on
cardboard, tempera, and golds.
The figure of the Woman has always been central to her art. The scream of women, outcast,
excluded, humiliated over the centuries is transformed in her works of art into a symbol of a
deeper peace, greater hope and more vital energy (8).
Artistic achievements
Among her most important exhibitions (more than 80 in total) were those held in Lucerne and
Ottoberg in Switzerland, in Salbach in Austria in 2001, at the United Nations Office in Geneva
in 2003(9), near Busto Arsizio in 2006, in Montepulciano several times, in Rovereto and Trento
in 2009 and 2010. Margherita Pavesi Mazzoni personally supervised the organization of the
interior space of the church of S. Antonio a Reggiana (Prato) between 1994 and 1996 (10).
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) of New York acquired her painting “Giustizia-
misericordia” (Justice and Mercy). Margherita described the dichotomy between Justice and
Mercy with the following words: The male figure is the symbol of the patriarchal power: he
evaluates, assesses and condemns according to the law. The female figure goes beyond the legal
categories, she carries a bundle of ears of grain, symbol of bread and nourishment, and she acts
according to her merciful heart (11).
Death
After a life dedicated to art as a way to get closer to God and humankind, she died in her home
near the town of Montepulciano on 25 November 2010. The artist is buried in the Cemetery of
the Medieval Sanctuary of Monte Senario, near Florence, near the tombs of the seven holy
founders of the Order of the Servants of Mary (3).
References
(1) Biographical notes in La donna eretta nella sua dinigità regale (catalogue for the exhibition at
Palazzo de Probizer a Isera, Edizioni Osiride, Rovereto, 2008)
(2) Pellegrina dell’onda d’oro (catalogue for the exhibition at the Rotonda della Basilica di San Carlo a
Milano, Edizioni Osiride, Rovereto, 2011)
(3) Dallo stridor di denti del drago a quel fibrillare d’ali squisitamente silenzioso (catalogue for the
exhibition at Palazzo Vescovile di Montepulciano, ed. La Marina, Calenzano, 2006)
(4) Margherita e la Luce – L’arte di Margehrita Pavesi Mazzoni; interview of the artist by Corona Perer,
I Corti di Sentire, Anno II n. 3, Rovereto 2009
(5) Dallo stridor di denti del drago a quel fibrillare d’ali squisitamente silenzioso, page 12.
(6) Margherita e la Luce, page 12.
(7) Margherita Pavesi Mazzoni, Autobiografia Cromatica, 2010
(8) http://www.cronacamilano.it/milano-eventi/mostra-margherita-pavesi-mazzoni-milano-7-aprile-15-
maggio-2011-basilica-di-san-carlo-al-corso-tutte-le-info.html
(9) https://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B8954/.../Rapport+2003+Engl.pdf
(10) https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiesa_di_Sant%27Antonio_a_Reggiana
(11) http://www.abbandoneraiaderirai.it/AA/CONVEGNO%202006%20-
%20PAROLE%20E%20SILENZI/Convegno%202006%20-%20Parole%20e%20silenzi%20-
%20margherita.htm
(12) Il trittico di Margherita Pavesi Mazzoni a Monte Senario di Lorenzo Bonomi in Fraternità Nuova
Serie no. 20, Firenze, 2011.
Caption:
Maschera arcaica (Arcaic mask) – charcoal on paper (3)
Giustizia e misericordia (Justice and Mercy) – oil on canvas (3)
Archetipo femminile: non io grido di dolore ma il dolore grida in me (The woman archetype: it
is not me that is screaming in sorrow but sorrow that is screaming in me) – oil on canvas (3)
Nigredo, Albedo, Rubedo: il pellegrinaggio dell’anima attraverso la metamorfosi (Nigredo,