Can You Take Gaviscon Everyday ?

Museo Mercatali - Lesa, Lago Maggiore

Enrico Mercatali, "Ecco le donne!", particolare, 1939

Museum

Mercatali

When initiating a Lesa, in Casabella-Lago Maggiore, "Museum Mercatali" initiative virtual museum focused on the figure of Henry Mercatali artist, who has lived and worked since the late 20's at the beginning of the '40s, becoming a world famous, he Notebooks today published an article, accounting oblivion of the future, looking for motivation, telling the story, now intends to give meaning to the idea of \u200b\u200bpicking up the pieces within a container that knows how to reassign the just merits, and the quality of the claim history.

Above the title of Henry Mercatali a detail of the watercolor sketch on "women's" from 1939

Under the heading of Henry autofotografia Mercatali taken in the early '30s

Above autocaricatura an autograph of Henry Mercatali performed in 1934

In

want to describe di Enrico Mercatali i lineamenti d’un contributo, e d’un quadro stilistico personale ma anche organico alla prospettiva storico-artistica del novecento milanese, ben tracciabili attraverso il sia pur esiguo materiale documentale oggi rimasto, e nella memoria di chi ve li descrive, per sommi capi ve ne riportiamo un riassunto, anche inquadrandone i tratti biografici dell’uomo e dell’artista che sono ben collocabili, a partire dal periodo pur breve che egli visse, nell’impianto novecentista ad oggi consolidatosi.

Sono forme, stili, caratteri, figure, idee che ancora muovono l’immaginario di chi le osserva nell’opera di Enrico Mercatali collocandole sullo sfondo del panorama novecentista che ha avuto a Milano le sue massime espressioni nella grande mostra Annitrenta”, realizzata a Palazzo Reale nel 1982, e nell’odierno Museo Novecento.

Un panorama questo fatto di nomi ben più noti di lui, molti dei quali suoi conoscenti od amici, ed ai quali lui ebbe approccio, ma dai quali dovette rapidamente separarsi per il brevissimo periodo che la vita gli potè concedere.

Enrico Mercatali, bozzetto eseguito attorno 1935, for an illustration of a fashion magazine for women.

Above and below the enlargement of certain details.

I wish here to recall briefly the life and work, showing you some pictures of his legacy as a painter, a graphic designer, cartoonist and illustrator of fashion. This material, not abundant, but enough to represent the artist's stature, it was possible today, for the first time, reassemble inside of a museum that bears his name, that perhaps he would have preferred to collective, to feel part of a whole critically consolidated, but that was duly be attributed to him at least on a personal basis, so that they would make a first step in the direction of a historicity that inevitably will be recognized as if the memory over time, it will give the right course.

Mercatali Museum was founded with the intent to inform a wider audience as the artist who is dedicated, through the creation of a physical placement of his works and through the dissemination of its work and its most important images.

It also has set also among its principal tasks, to expand, as and when it will be possible in the future, collecting everything you find him, in a market that could still offer surprises, and the material is still very scattered among collectors and family. Its main objective is to give body and thickness to a figure artist almost forgotten by critics and audiences, but that deserves to be brought to light, for the remarkable qualities that one can easily discover only by examining what little at our disposal, now more than ever, but especially for the critical acclaim of the public that the early twentieth century was also made of individual episodes that have well-known framework within strands of a period that has broken the traditional arts in new art, full of adventure stories and creative perspectives.

Mercatali Henry, poster for "Universal Geneva: Swiss brand of a leading manufacturer of watches,

printed by printing on Garzanti unspecified decade of the '30s (photo taken from an original print of the time)

The artist we are talking about, which was almost forgotten because they died prematurely, was protagonist, in life, of a professional art world and high profile that the documents in our possession may be evidenced by, who saw him active in their new fields, such as the illustration for high fashion, and graphic design, in which he was master, and certainly among the first to use advanced techniques, such as the application of the photographic images within fotomontata plants graphs.

This article will be followed by others who tell them and delve into the life and work, and who will try to outline a more complete profile critic of what today we can not settle, adding that material as possible to what will be available today, both in terms of documentation, that works, keeping his attention on the objectives that the Museum has been given and informing the public about the changes occurring during its desired growth.

Mercatali Henry, "I see a long white painted limestone arch, drawing pencil autograph 30/11/1930

For the moment at Lesa on Lake Maggiore, drawings, watercolors, paintings, posters, photos, pictures and documents of the painter, poet and graphic designer Henry Mercatali, produced mainly in the 30s decade, were collected in a small virtual museum within the walls of Casabella, creative tourist facility, where he lives, lives and works today, the namesake nephew, a professional architect, that, from a small group of drawings has always belonged to his family, has initiated a larger collection, gathering donations and small families.

Mercatali Henry, "The big three-Falco Manufacturing Packs for Women-Naples," a handwritten page advertisement in the 1938

Now the works graphic artist and poet Henry Mercatali, who died early thirties, after working for a decade between the late '20s and early '40s, collecting undisputed successes in the audience and the artistic and journalistic criticism of cultured 'So between the two world wars, are a cultural legacy not many works which now form a corpus that can finally be viewed by intreressati.

Mercatali Henry, Soltex Zegna, Zegna FZA Electa, Astrum Zegna advertising page manuscript, date uncertain

Unfortunately the untimely death of one of the signatures of graphic and pictorial already well known in the Italian art of that time led to the inevitable smallness of his estate, which does not mean that, even in its poor ability witness, for design quality and visual art representative of their age, compared to those of his contemporaries, the oldest and best known, may be considered less important.

Mercatali Henry, "Ahead of the wool production-tissue Zegna" page ad of 1939

some ways is very similar, its history, to that of another great Italian artist who died prematurely, this time belonging to the field of music, Luca Flores, whose extraordinary talent we have talked about Walter Veltroni, in his book " The record of the world "(Rizzoli, 2003), and lived up to his life tragically premature death, the genius now contained in the manifesto but even small repertoire of music and recorded some footage, which was able to show through the talents of pianist, composer and performer of that particular form of jazz invented by him and that he preferred.

Henry Mercatali , detail of a sketch pen ink watercolor of 1939, entitled: "Here are the women!"

And so it was also, however, in the very first time and in different field, for Henry Mercatali for an artistic life marked by suffering and brevity, and the little that this could leave of his own, within the illustration graphic design, drawings in pen, in a few oil paintings, and numerous preparatory sketches for the figures and accessories for fashion, which took much of his limited time available, in caricatures and cartoons and gender that characterized his interests varied and full of vital ideas, whereas his body was leading him to death.

Mercatali Henry, "Here are the women!" Sketch pen ink watercolor of 1939 with caricatured figures pertaining to the world of women's fashion era

The various works which composed of such small but significant body of work now combined and displayed on the walls of the house-studio of his nephew Henry Mercatali, transformed from a couple of years even in tourist facility whose name Casabella was conferred in honor of the most important magazine of architecture in the world whose collection of nearly half a century in the library de the studio, make up for the first time a real small museum dedicated to the work of the Master, become very well known in his time, the circle of critics and Milanese artists, but also general public, especially for his work as a graphic, poster prominent in advertising with modern tools of communication, which was among the first, along with Gino Boccasile, Marcello Dudovich, Walter Molino, X Schavinsky, Albe Steiner, Marcello Nizzoli and many others, to adopt a language capable of new words, new adjectives industrial graphics, technical illustration then advanced, such as the use of photomontages, which were beginning to show itself in doing Italian and foreign magazines, specialized or more notes of the time .

Mercatali Henry, "Nude", signed drawing in ink of 1942

Today the architect Henry Mercatali, namesake grandson who do not has ever known because he was born after his untimely death at the age of thirty, from the few pezzi ereditati dal padre, fratello del Maestro, a partire d a un altro piccolo lascito da parte della donna che era divenuta sua promessa sposa, fatto di volumi d'arte, articoli di giornale, alcuni disegni a penna ed un olio, ha dato il via ad un interesse collezionistico, particolarmente in campo grafico che lo ha portato ad acquistare, ove e quando possibile, s tampe e grafiche originali e a raggruppare il tutto in una realtà pseudo museale entro le mura della sua casa. Così, per la prima volta dopo la sua morte, avvenuta nel 1942, è divenuto possibile approcciare in modo meno frammentario l'opera del Maestro.

Enrico Mercatali, "Ragazza che lavora" (ritratto della sorella Letizia), disegno originale autografo del 1941, riprodotto nel libro "Enrico Mercatali disegni e poesie" edito nel 1953 per le edizioni di Daria Guarnati con la prefazione dal titolo "Destino poetico" di Orio Vergani

Già il nome di Enrico Mercatali, ricordato da Orio Vergani nella prefazione di una bella monografia edita da Daria Guarnati nel 1953, intitolata "Enrico Mercatali, disegni e poesie", è apparso pubblicamente in occasione della prima grande mostra milanese dedicata agli anni '30, "Gli Annitrenta, Arte e Cultura in Italia" organizzata a Palazzo Reale in Milan in 1982.

Mercatali Henry, "working girls", signed drawing of May 1, 1942, also published on page. 51 in the book "Henry Mercatali - drawings and poems with a preface by Orio Vergani, published in 1953 by Daria Guarnati

The monograph is dedicated to him, introduced by the great writer and journalist then Orio Vergani, which recalls the main stages of art, and references that they have had with strands snodatisi critical during the first three decades of the twentieth century, and even personal ties of affection with some famous actors of the time, is especially dedicated the two final years of his adventure on earth, those of greater suffering for the limitations imposed by long illness, and the yearning that still permeated his creative passion for art, which now only allowed to draw with that typical section " trembling "that characterizes the works reproduced therein.

Mercatali Henry, "Perledo", signed drawing in ink of 1941, published in the book mentioned above

These are almost all figures of naked women and still lifes made closed in his room, except a few landscape Como made during the last summers resort that they had spent.

Mercatali Henry, autographed oil painting of uncertain date (1941?), Which depicts a small town Como

But much more interesting look today, our opinion, the contributions which it offers in the world, then much in vogue, especially in the periodical press, the social satire, the cartoon, and, more broadly, to the world of illustration for fashion and advertising, which a few examples of this show a very personal imprint and expert workmanship.

Enrico Mercatali, natura morta autografa di data incerta (1940-42?)

Purtroppo non molte sono le opere di grafica pubblicitaria da lui eseguite, che furono assai più numerose un tempo, oggi irreperibili sul mercato, o pubblicamente documentabili, certamente assai meno di quante egli ne abbia effettivamente realizzate, in un numero che oggi non è da alcuno conosciuto, ma che ancora sono nella memoria dello stesso nipote, che ne ricorda varie fino a qualche tempo fa ancora presenti in casa del padre, e poi andate purtroppo disperse, alcune realizzate anche per riviste tedesche specializzate nella grafica.

Henry Mercatali, "Tulips" watercolor ink autograph of 1942

Many of these come from fashion magazines, where he mainly worked like Falco Packaging, Packaging Soltex Sacis, but also for wider circulation newspapers in which the public could still relate to fashion, or the precision engineering, among which, for the Universal Geneva, Swiss watch factory, where a beautiful page ad, including photos of fine vintage watches male figure stands a good question from the famous painting by Gentile da Fabriano the 'Adoration of the Magi ", which is a richly dressed young king, used as a symbol of distinction and elegance.

Enrico Mercatali, "La moda per il 1940", dettaglio centrale di una illustrazione autografa per un giornale di moda femminile dell'epoca

Questa immagine è di particolare interesse, nel panorama del manifesto pubblicitario di quell’epoca (del quale se ne può avere una panoramica nel sito web: http://manifestostorico.xoom.it/index.htm), forse proprio per la finezza di scelte, di inserimento di questo tipo, e per la sobria, quasi a-storica eleganza di questi dettagli , i quali certo contribuiscono a contraddistinguerne il contributo stilistico, nel contesto generale, ma certo anche a non rendere ragione appieno dell’appartenenza in an era that has built around its stylistic clear pass (see also "fascist-style", "impression Mussolini, etc.. now some more appropriately" modernism ").

Mercatali Henry, detail of an illustration for a manuscript journal of women's fashion vintage titled "Fashion for 1940"

to this conceptual and epistemic Formal he nevertheless often referred in most of his drawings, but also the many sketches as part of the collection we have in the museum, reveal that the use of a skilful hand in drawing the figure, but often also "appear" and the poetic representation of a much more refined, made up of figures and objects in the foreground of clear skies and barely clouded, and iconic landmarks in the distance between drapery solved spectacularly as a kind of theatrical backdrop.

Mercatali Henry, "Fashion for 1940", handwritten in ink and tempera illustration

E 'also evident in the input discrete fitting rooms of ladies' upper middle class, ideal customers of high fashion brands promoted therein, for the pleasure of dealing with that universe feminine, almost foreboding of Fellini sweet lives, so they really cherished known in its folds even less socially elevated, as shown daibozzetti humorous comic types who portray the characteristics of the dance halls in the more peripheral .

Above and below: Henry Mercatali caricature drawings on women's fashions of 1939, published in a newspaper of the time: "The caricatures of fashion is sometimes not far from the truth," "The caricatures of some fashion turn reflect the reality "

Almost sensational this watercolor sketch titled," Here women, "do not know if shelved with the big one almost immediate written that cancels the wise figures that had been drawn, or if prepared for publication from some vaguely humorous. But we feel really amazing what is designed for elegance and quality of the sign, for capacity to grasp the fleeting expressions of the faces, which show great experience and excessive work of psychological investigation.

Some of these works on the walls of the house, but many stores still waiting to be cataloged, that it will soon work to be done on a list to each work or what grouping may be limited to what is available now, but would expand in the future as they know the circumstances and the luck to do, to add the new.

Mercatali Henry, "Ascent Ghisallo, signed drawing in China in April of 1934

The above I wanted to tell, by way of memory, and also in honor My father Luciano and Paola Dalai Mercatali, brother and girlfriend of Enrico Mercatali, "graphic artist and '30s," which have spoken to me about him when they were alive, there were so emotionally connected, but not much had actually done take them into public life in the memory: the idea of \u200b\u200bforever, we hear them speak, to arrive one day to make a show, an idea so strongly advocated by Paola, meanwhile I started to do something: namely, first, give opening to the virtual museum as a physical place where the works of the Master live, and there may be seen, hanging on the walls and available in the study of the house, and, secondly, to realize this article, enter the network, using the tool I have, namely International notebooks, which already has been shown to have many hits in recent months, hoping that this will bear fruit even in case someone unexpected, seeing us and having some common interest, can start with us, in that perspective, a fruitful collaboration in an effort to revive the important work he has done in the '30s, the painter, poet, illustrator and graphic designer Henry Mercatali.

Mercatali Henry - architect

(grandson of Henry Mercatali, "painter, poet, illustrator and graphic designer, 30s).

Mercatali Henry, china cartoon autograph of unknown date

Already the network: Enrico Mercatali, Milan? - 1942. talented cartoonist who died prematurely during the Second World War, he distinguished himself Mercatali advertising for some people (almost exclusively for magazines) from 1932 to 1933. At the same time he drew for the magazine supported by the regime, "the publication of Italy." Nearby, at the forefront of the advertising year thirties and forties (Xanti, Boggeri, Ricas, Dinelli, Grignani, etc ...) Mercatali was also a proponent of the technique of photomontage in advertising. Solo tre i suoi manifesti noti. Famosi quelli per la Soltex, la Universal di Ginevra.

Enrico Mercatali, autoritratto d'artista che dipinge una scarpa (un Jim Dine ante litteram ), disegno satirico a china di data imprecisata

Una poesia di Enrico Mercatali (pittore, poeta, illustratore e grafico pubblicitario anni '30)

" De Chirico":

"Il mio sogno 
è una luce
d'oro e rosa
è my dream
extraordinary
beach resonant
of silence
where naked and weightless
my dream pink and gold
my dream
formerly
horizons of the vast and empty
the magnificent horses
breathing fire and light
where the wave
overwhelming
batting seems senseless
silence
rolling
d 'living dead.
E 'melancholy poetry
dreamy painter or a poet
six
that leads us farthest
childhood
when the sea
prodigious
generated
beauty when the sun shone
of joy
on girls naked and caste
(meraviglia!)
when men sit
not built on town
time talking with
of honesty.
You're my dream
or painting fanciful
are my dream
pink and gold. "

Information: Phone 0322-76957. The museum will be visited by appointment: tel. 0322-76957 or 348-2257710 .

article Henry Mercatali - architect

Lesa-Lago Maggiore, 27 January 2011