Giovanni Tessitore

Giovanni Tessitore (* 1929 in Anacapri ; † 2006, ibid) was an Italian painter .

Life

Giovanni Tessitore was born on the Italian island of Capri , where he also spent most of his life. In his youth he came into contact with the German painter Otto Sohn-Rethel (Düsseldorf 1877 - Anacapri 1949), who owned a villa in Anacapri, took a liking to the boy and taught him to paint. A portrait of Tessitores painted by Sohn-Rethel is in his estate. Tessitore developed his talent without further academic training. His artistic work, especially oil paintings and drawings, has different styles. In addition to late Expressionist and Cubist techniques, there are abstract images; In the last years of his life, Tessitore was best known as a naive painter.

Giovanni Tessitore ran a simple bathing establishment in the summer months near the Blue Grotto , called "Giovanni a Gradola", which was popular with Italian and foreign writers, artists and intellectuals and was the setting for Paolo's novel Ci vediamo al Bar Biturico (2006) Doni ( pseudonym for Giuliano Zincone) was; in the winter months he was often abroad. Most recently he was married to the Swede Katharina Olsson from Karlstad , who also owns his estate; the couple had two daughters.

Exhibitions (selection)

• 1949 La Medusa Gallery, Naples
• 1970 Gallery David, Kitzbühel
• 1978 Axel Munthe Foundation , Capri
• 1984 Salon des Artistes , Paris
• 2007 Casa Rossa, Capri

literature

• Morto Giovanni Tessitore, il pittore di Gradola . In: Capri Press , May 16, 2007.
• Anacapri rende omaggio a Tessitore, il creatore del mito di Gradola. In: Corriere della Sera / Corriere del Mezzogiorno, September 2, 2007.
• Dieter Richter : Giovanni Tessitore - an obituary . In: Capri-Möwe 43 (2007), p. 16.