Chessa, Gigi

ARCHITECT, PAINTER, SCENERY DESIGNER, POTTER (ITALY)
BORN 15 Mar 1898, Torino, Piemonte - DIED 23 Apr 1935, Torino, Piemonte
BIRTH NAME Chessa, Luigi Maria Giorgio
CAUSE OF DEATH tuberculosis
GRAVE LOCATION Torino, Piemonte: Cimitero Monumentale, Corso Novara (Ampliazone Primitivo Pregadio B sin 214 (A59))

Gigi Chessa was trained by his father, the painter Carlo Chessa. At the Accademia Albertina in Turin Agostina Bosia and Felice Casorati were his teachers. In 1920 he moved to Anticoli Corrado near Rome. In 1922 he started a collaboration with Lenci from Turin to produce ceramics. He went to New York in 1926 to design sets for the Metropolitan Theater. In 1927 he obtained a professorship in Turin. He exhibited at the Bienale of Venice in 1928. In 1929 he was a founding member of the expressionist Gruppo dei Sei of Turin. He was only 37 years old when he died of tuberculosis in Turin, leaving a widow and two children. In 1938 his widow Ottavia Cabutti married Francesco Menzio (1899-1979), another founding member of the Gruppo dei Sei.

Images

The grave of Gigi Chessa at the Cimitero Monumentale, Turin.
Picture by Androom (28 Feb 2014)

 


Cheyney, Peter

Published: 02 May 2021
Last update: 04 Feb 2024