Sergio Cecchi
Born in Venice (Italy) in 1921.
Died in Geneva (Switzerland) in 1987.
Italian · active primarily in Geneva and Switzerland · Modern figuration · urban and lakeside landscape · still life · animal painting
Sergio Cecchi developed a modern figurative practice closely linked to Geneva and its surroundings. An Italian artist active mainly in Switzerland, he made Geneva’s streets, quays, markets, bridges and ports the focus of a painting attentive to the rhythms of the city, the presence of figures and the changing light on the water.
The dated works place this observation at least as early as the beginning of the 1950s. Pont de Carouge is dated 1951, while views of the Rade, the Quai du Mont-Blanc, the Rue Basse and the Rue d’Italie punctuate the decade. The silhouettes integrated into the architecture, the mobility of the matière and the importance given to atmosphere transform topographical description into an animated urban vision.
His repertoire extends to the shores of Lake Geneva, Venice and Parisian scenes, including Place Clichy in 1960. Horses, nudes and bouquets complete this landscape-based body of work. Oil is his principal medium, alongside watercolour, gouache, mixed media and graphic work; a Bouquet de fleurs offered for sale, executed in oil and gold leaf, also documents the use of metallic surfaces in his floral compositions.
The solo exhibition organised by Galerie Ohbi in Tokyo in January and February 1977, followed by that of Galerie d’Art de la Place Beauvau in Paris from 30 March to 22 April 1978, attest to the international circulation of his work. His presence continued in posthumous group exhibitions in Geneva and Lausanne. In 2013, the City of Carouge acquired the watercolour Bords de l’Arve for its municipal fine-arts collections.
The works by Sergio Cecchi presented by Swiss Art Gallery extend this artistic journey and take their place naturally within this corpus.
