Gino Severini’s encounter with the Groupe de Saint-Luc in Switzerland and his path towards «despoliation», 1923-1947

This article, part of the research on Gino Severini’s wall paintings in four Swiss churches in the years 1923-1947 coordinated by the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI), focuses on two main issues. First, Severini’s Christian art seen in its evolution through crucial life events, technical trials, iconographical and formal experimentations, theoretical conceptualization; secondly, the artist’s dialogue with the Groupe de Saint-Luc, an artistic society of Swiss artists and personalities engaged in renovating Catholic art. The authors analyze Severini’s profiling as a mural painter in the context of the activity of the Swiss society and the international debate on modernity in Christian art, here confronted with the official position of the Vatican. Eventually, Severini is seen gradually building his production as the fruit of a synthesis between the principles of the avant-garde and a multiform tradition, which involves both iconographic and stylistic issues, and a constant dialogue with the ‘ancient masters’ in terms of craftsmanship and a process of formal ‘despoliation’.