Nuorese Cultural DistrictGiovanni Ciusa Romagna (b. 20 February 1907, Nuoro–d. 15 December 1958, Nuoro) was an Italian painter.
Giovanni Ciusa Romagna
Description
In his youth, he explored the towns and countryside of the Barbagia with the painter Bernardino Palazzi. Later, following in the footsteps of his uncle, Francesco Ciusa, he moved to Florence to study at the Fine Arts Academy.
Returning to Sardinia in 1925, he became a prominent figure on the local art scene, displaying his work regularly and winning acclaim in important exhibitions.
In 1933, he painted a number of important works, including the portraits Girl with Jug and Woman with Fruit and the well-known Procession, all of which reveal his originality, technical expertise and masterful handling of light.
Over the years, Ciusa Romagna focused his attention on subjects like women, men, animals and Sardinia’s rural landscapes. However, he also explored still life and the possibility of analytically portraying not just people but also inanimate objects. His modernity was expressed in his interest in new community pastimes like seaside holidays and the colourful carnivals of the postwar period, but also in his approach to social realism.
Ciusa Romagna’s distinctive drawing style, refined during his academic apprenticeship, was one of the most recognisable in Sardinian art. His figures come to life on the page with broad strokes of charcoal and sanguine, to which we should add the illustrations published in the Giornale d'Italia from 1935 to 1940, the period during which he was the writer for the Sardinia section.
He also designed a few important book covers, including the one for Grazia Deledda’s posthumous novel Cosima.
In addition to his artistic activity, he was also devoted to teaching and the minor arts, founding a school and promoting the revival of Sardinian craft, in particular through his collaboration with Eugenio Tavolara and Ubaldo Badas.
Although he was not a trained architect, his versatility also stretched to the area of public works, contributing to the restoration of the church of Solitudine in Nuoro, in preparation for the arrival of the body of Grazia Deledda and, in partnership with the painter Carmelo Floris, creating a Via Crucis for the cathedral of Santa Maria della Neve.
Some of his works are on view at MAN, Nuoro.