Giovanni Guerrini

Giovanni GuerriniGiovanni Guerrini was born in Imola in 1887. In Faenza he was part of the ‘cenacolo baccariniano’ – together with friends Domenico Rambelli, Ercole Drei and Giuseppe Ugonia – and at the local School of Design received a polytechnic education that would be deployed in many fields of expression: from painter, to lithographer, poster artist, designer of objects and furniture, builder and architect. In 1912 he exhibited for the first time at the Venice Biennale, at which he would present in 1914 and then every year between 1920 and 1936. In 1915 he moved to Ravenna as a teacher of Ornamentation and Architectural Design at the Academy of Fine Arts, later becoming the director of the School of Mosaic. In 1925 he won the contest for the manifesto of the II International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Monza, and in 1926 he was invited to attend the first exhibition of ‘Novecento Italiano’. In 1927 he moved to Rome as artistic director of ENAPI and remained in the capital for life, returning periodically to his home town of Faenza. During the twenties and thirties he participated more often at important exhibitions. In Rome, he continued the activity of painting but devoted himself mainly to the design of objects and furniture for ENAPI, working in various materials. In 1938 he won, with M. Romano and E. Bruno La Padula the contest for the Palace of Italian Civilization in E42, this was the pinnacle of his architectural career. In 1939 he made six large mosaic panels for the fountains of the ‘Palazzo degli Uffizi’ in E42 and in 1941 won, alongside A. Capizzano, F. Gentilini and G. Quaroni, the competition for the mosaics to be placed in the ‘Palazzo dei Congressi’, also in E42. After the war he continued his activities with conferences and exhibitions (Lille in 1951, Rome in 1953, Paris in 1956 and Monaco of Bavaria 1957). He died in Rome in 1972.