Mario Gamero

The youth of Mario Gamero was largely influenced by wars, first by the colonial war in Libya and then by World War I. He got a job as an illustrator of postcards and booklets for children. At the age of seventeen he joined the studio of the then famous painter Giovanni Guarlotti. When he was 30 years of age he met his future wife Pinetta Colonna, also a painter of note. They became a famous artists’ couple in Turin. Together with some friends he founded the “Group Armando Spadini”, named after an artist, who died in 1925 at the age of only 42. While Turin was a center of the Second Futurism, Gamero offered a return to the Italian classical art. During the 1930s he was an acknowledged painter and was teaching students from the Italian aristocracy during spells in the alpine town of Courmayeur. In addition to successful presentations at Milano, Bologna and Nice he participated in the Berlin Olympics, the Quadriennale in Roma and the Biennale in Venizia.

During World War II Gamero had to face difficulties and restrictions. He experimented with a monochrome technique, using a tincture that he prepared himself. After the war he moved to Paris for two years, and then travelled to Switzerland and Norway. He could work almost until his death; his deteriorated health forced him to inactivity only in the last months of life. His topics were, amongst others, the industrial landscapes of Turin and snow-covered sceneries, but also still lives. Many of his many muted pictures are expressions of pain, death and mystery.

Although the submitted works from 1934 are listed in the catalog as Ludi ginnici in palestra (Gymnastic Games in the Gym) and Ludi ginnici sulla neve (Gymnastic Games in the Snow), respectively, the artist himself titled the latter Raduno invernale (Winter Gathering) for the latter. This oil painting is reported as being roughly 2 x 1½ metres in size.