Nuorese Cultural DistrictNicolina Deledda (b. Nuoro, 8 March 1879–d. Rome, 14 October 1972) was an Italian painter and illustrator.
Nicolina Deledda
Description
Nicolina was the sister of Grazia Deledda and, like the writer, was entirely self-taught.
She lived in Nuoro until 1913, when she sold the family home and moved to Rome to join her writer sister.
She distinguished herself in particular as an illustrator, a field in which Sardinian artists like Giuseppe Biasi, Mario Delitala, Melkiorre Melis and others had shown marked talent in the early twentieth century. There were also talented women in this field in Sardinia, like Edina Altara, Anna Marongiu and the sisters Giuseppina and Albina Coroneo.
Like the more famous illustrators, Nicolina also had the opportunity to create images for some of her sister’s novellas when they were published in Italian magazines.
In about 1920, she started producing tempera paintings, mostly on folkloric themes and clearly indebted to her work as an illustrator, but she also painted Expressionist works influenced by the European avant-garde. In 1923, she participated in the Amateurs and Enthusiasts Exhibition in Rome with Melkiorre Melis, Mario Mossa de Murtas and Giovanni Ciusa Romagna.