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Edita Broglio (1886-1977)

CRISTO E LA CORRIERA, 1952-53

Catalogue essay by Blanche Llewellyn

After her husband Mario Broglio’s death in 1948, Edita Broglio moved to San Michele di Moriano (Lucca, Italy) where she painted “Cristo e la Corriera,” featuring the local church.

The overall aesthetic is dominated by rich and dark hues of purples and blues, evoking the imminent arrival of a powerful and nearly spiritual summer storm.

The blue bus on the painting’s right side, known as the “corriera”,  was a traditional Italian mail delivery, which made the rounds everyday to small, isolated villages. Its arrival typically caused excitement and chaos among villagers, eagerly awaiting news. Thus, the “corriera” served as the primary messenger, paralleling, as depicted in this painting, Christ’s role as the divine messenger – bringing God’s plan to all mankind. In the painting, Christ is depicted as a superior figure, surrounded by all-imposing angels, underscoring his role as the divine messenger, offering spiritual enlightenment, guidance and salvation to humanity.

However, a strange duality emerges. Despite Christ’s dominance on the canvas, his presence appears unnoticed, especially compared to the attention-grabbing postman, representing societal communication. This duality is heightened by the dreamlike scene’s distorted reality. The somber, crescent moon-lit sky suggests nighttime, yet the presence of civilians and a postman implies daytime, possibly morning, when the post was typically delivered. This controversial juxtaposition of day and night blurring temporal boundaries and conveying themes of timelessness or eternity most likely represents the divine or spiritual realm intersecting with the earthly or material world, the balance of opposing forces within the cosmos, or the journey of the soul through light and darkness.

H125,7cm
x W105,4cm
Oil on board.
Edita Broglio

Edita Broglio (1886-1977)

Edita Broglio, born Edita Walterowna von Zur Muehlen on November 26, 1886, in Smiltene, Latvia, was a prominent artist known for her contributions to Magic Realism. Coming from a noble Baltic family, she pursued her artistic education at the Königsberg Art Academy in East Prussia from 1908 to 1910. In 1910, Edita relocated to Rome, Italy, where she became an integral part of the Italian art scene. She married Mario Broglio, an eclectic painter and writer, and together, they founded the influential art magazine Valori Plastici, which played a significant role in the Return to Order movement, emphasising traditional figurative principles over avant-garde styles. Throughout her career, Edita's work was characterised by a blend of international influences, including Russian avant-garde culture and primitivism, eventually aligning with the Magic Realism movement. She exhibited her paintings extensively in Italy during the 1930s, with notable exhibitions at the Fiorentina Primaverile in 1922. Edita Broglio passed away in Rome in 1977, leaving behind a legacy that continues to be celebrated for its unique contribution to early 20th-century art.

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