Flavia Arlotta

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Flavia Arlotta (Naples, 1913 – Florence, 2010) was an artist from Chiaia, Naples, who specialized in still-life and landscape painting, often leveraging her signature “inner light” technique. As the daughter of Russian sculptor Elena Albercht von Brandenburg (1892 – 1967) Arlotta grew up surrounded by artists and scholars. She graduated in 1935 from Florence’s Accademia delle Belle Arti where she met her future husband Giovanni Colacicchi through the school's director Felice Carena. The couple was associated with renowned Italian artists, including De Chirico, De Pisis, Morandi, and Carrà. Sons Francesco and Piero carried on the legacy of their parents as accomplished painters themselves. In Arlotta's lifetime, she exhibited at Palazzo Strozzi (Florence) and the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna (Rome), among others. Her Girl in a White Dress and Campo degli Hildebrand are at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in the Pitti Palace (Florence).

Personal life

Flavia Arlotta was born on May 9, 1913 in Naples but spent most of her childhood in Sorrento. Her family's home, enlarged by her grandfather in the 1800s, was on the site of a Roman villa. Her father, Ugo Arlotta, was an Italian journalist and translator from a family of merchants and bankers and her mother, Elena Albrecht von Brandenburg, was a Russian sculptor of German origin.

Arlotta's parents let her choose her own religion and she was torn between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, partly because of her beloved Russian nanny Duniascia (Dunjaša Karganova). Her mother left the family and remarried when Arlotta was 9 years old. Arlotta spent her childhood summers between Sorrento, Capri, and Positano and her brother Volodja was her constant companion. She grew up surrounded by Italian and foreign artists and intellectuals, such as Rainer Maria Rilke, who visited Arlotta's parents and her archaeologist cousin Paola Zancani Montuoro.

In the wake of a financial crisis, Flavia Arlotta moved with her father, brother, and nanny to Florence in 1930 into a home on Lungarno Guicciardini. Shortly after that she met Italian painter Giovanni Colacicchi, whom she married in 1952 and with whom she had two sons, Francesco and Piero. In 1939 her father bought her the studio house on Via dell'Osservatorio in the Castello neighborhood of Florence where she and Giovanni lived for the rest of their lives, and where her son Francesco Colacicchi still lives.

Painter Clotilde ("Clo Clo") Brewster Peploe, daughter of painter Elizabeth "Lisl" Brewster and granddaughter of sculptor Adolf Von Hildebrand, was a lifelong friend. The two spent a lot of time together on the Hildebrand estate near Bellosguardo in Florence, which was a hub for artists, musicians, and intellectuals, such as those associated with the literary magazine co-founded by Giovanni Colacicchi, Solaria. Italian writer Natalia Ginzburg was another longtime friend.

Arlotta wrote a memoir of her experience during the Second World War, published in 2013 with the title Ricordi, 1942-1945. During the war, she and her family stayed for a period in Vallombrosa as guests of American art historian Bernard Berenson and his aide Elisabetta “Nicky” Mariano. Arlotta’s son Francesco recalled how, during the "Emergenza" of 1944, the whole family lived as refugees in the Accademia delle Belle Arti. The family's home on Via dell'Osservatorio was bombed and, after moving back in in 1950, Flavia and Giovanni spent the rest of their lives rebuilding it.

Daughter-in-law Alta Macadam, art historian and daughter of Ivison Macadam, recalled that Arlotta devoted most of her time to her family, so that her seaside vacations was time she used to paint and "switch off."

Flavia Arlotta died in her home on December 13, 2010.

Artistic career

Flavia Arlotta attended the Umberto I middle school and high school in Naples but left early to devote herself to painting full time. Shortly after moving to Florence in 1930, Giovanni Colacicchi began mentoring her and helped her prepare for the admissions exam to the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Florence, where she studied painting with Felice Carena and graduated in 1935.

Flavia Arlotta’s oeuvre consists of portraits, still lifes, and landscape paintings, mostly oil on canvas. She spent countless hours painting in her house on Via dell’Osservatorio, including many images of the property and the surrounding area. She corresponded with fellow artists De Chirico, De Pisis, Morandi, and Carrà, and their conversations have been preserved in the Gabinetto Vieusseux's Contemporary Archive. Even before graduating from the Accademia, in 1933 she was invited to take part in the first Art Exhibition of the Association of Professional Women and Artists at the Palazzo Feroni Gallery and the Mostra Sindacale at the Palazzo Grande del Parterre di San Gallo, both in Florence.

In 1950 her painting La Piana di Castello was shown at the National Exhibition of Italian Painters at the Society of Fine Arts in Florence. Two years later she was invited to show at Palazzo Strozzi and a year after that at Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome. In 1964 she exhibited a still life at the Associazione Artisti e Professionisti Vanvitelli in Naples. In 1972, she exhibited San Vito in Forio d'Ischia at the exhibition Woman and Art in Florence; in 1975 at the Premio Ilaria in Varese; and in 1977 at the Florentine Company “Il Paiolo.”

In 1979 her first solo exhibition was held at the Galleria Il Punto featuring 59 paintings and curated by Giulia Sinibaldi, followed by another solo show at the same gallery in 1984 presented by Luigi Baldacci. In 1996 she exhibited some works at the Versiliana in Marina di Pietrasanta. In 1998 she was offered a historic venue for prominent women, the Lyceum, and wrote a memoir for it. That same year she wrote a memoir about her husband Giovanni and took part in the exhibition 60 Artisti Internazionali, organized by the cultural association II Giardino.

Her painting Girl in a White Dress was donated to the Gallery of Modern Art in Palazzo Pitti in 2011. In 2014, this work was loaned for the show "Flavia Arlotta: Donna e Pittrice del '900" at the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence, curated by Mario Ruffini and Max Seidel, who also edited the catalog. In 2025 Francesco Colacicchi co-curated a show of his late mother's works called Inner Gardens at the Villa Il Palmerino.

Artistic style

Arlotta's early work was influenced by mentors Giovanni Colacicchi and the painter and curator Onofrio Martinelli, but she quickly developed her own distinctive style. She was known for her attention to detail, her use of bold colors and textures, and her expressiveness. She was meticulous, with a strict, refined color palette. Of her early work, Giovanna Picchi wrote in the journal Illustrazione Toscana e dell'Etruria in 1932 that "she painted her canvas with rich, emotive brushwork; it is characterized by balanced proportions and elegant composition."

Still life was a convenient subject to which she could devote herself when not taking care of her home and family. The intimate world of her painting is populated by domestic objects arranged in classical compositions, and with velvety, ethereal textures, that recall the still lifes of Pompeii. Arlotta worked slowly, building up her paintings with thin layers of diluted paint and using stiff brushes, often taking long breaks before completing a work.

As Arlotta wrote of her work in 1979: “It has always been a struggle for me to paint, to be able to maintain a rhythm of life that allows me to concentrate and maintain the emotions and ideas that so easily escape when not working. If you can't devote yourself solely to painting, it's really hard. At this point I'm the opposite of Corot, who loved to maintain the initial emotion through to a painting's completion (since he had the practical means to do so). My approach became one of moving beyond that intense passion—after having “swallowed” it—and then painting with a certain detachment."

Her landscape paintings are almost completely devoid of human presence, and portray the scenery of where she spent all her time: the hills and gardens of the Hildebrand estate and her longtime home on Via dell'Osservatorio, both overlooking Florence; the forests of Vallombrosa, her family's wartime refuge; seaside vacation destinations; and Giovanni's beloved hometown of Anagni in Lazio.

Many of Arlotta's portraits capture an element of doubt, reluctance, or deep reservation in the subjects’ expressions. The articulation of the colors with a soft, diffused light seems to reflect the influence of Arlotta's friend Emanuele Cavalli, an exponent of the Scuola Romana art movement.

Arlotta's intent was to communicate and connect on a human level: “[My work] would seem to me not completely vain, if only it could communicate to someone, a love for the world and for life, albeit through simple motifs - whatever surrounds us. The reason is to share that feeling with someone, that there is something else - even behind a loaf of bread or a flower...”.

Notable works

• The Hills of Fiesole, c. 1932-1935, Oil on panel

• From the Mugnone (Fiesole), c. 1932-1935, Oil on canvas
• Il campo degli Hildebrand a San Francesco di Paola, 1935, Oil on canvas
• Still Life with a Box of Dates, 1935, Oil on canvas
• Still Life with a Red Ribbon,1936, Oil on canvas
• The Pilgrims’ Artificial Flowers, 1938, Oil on canvas
• Vallombrosa (Tribute to Giovanni), 1943, Oil on canvas

• Landscape near Forte dei Marmi, with the Apuane, c. 1945, Oil on canvas
• The Castello Plain, c. 1950, Oil on canvas
• Still Life with Terracotta Medallion, 1950, Oil on canvas
• San Vito a Foria d'Ischia, 1954, Oil on canvas
• Duniascia, 1955, Oil on canvas
• Cupra Marittima Beach, c. 1960, Oil on panel
• Still Life with Three Pomegranates, 1960s, Oil on canvas
• Still Life with a Lantern, 1960s, Oil on canvas
• Still Life in Diffused Light,1960s, Oil on canvas
• Still Life with a Porcelain Cup, c. 1970, Oil on canvas
• Still Life with Weighing Scale,1970s, Oil on canvas
• Still Life with a Wicker Basket and Oranges, 1970s, Oil on canvas
• Girl in a Red Coat, c. 1979, Oil on canvas
• Manger Scene Painted for Giovanni, 1980, Oil on canvas
• Still Life with a Samovar, 1981, Oil on canvas
• Girl in a Green Dress, c. 1982, Oil on canvas
• Still Life with a Blue Vase and Teapot, 1982, Oil on canvas
• Girl in a White Dress, 1984, Oil on canvas
• Ragazza di Anagni, 1989-91, Oil on canvas

References

This article "Flavia Arlotta" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Flavia Arlotta. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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