Paris Opera 1928

MICHELE CASCELLA — Un Pittore Senza Tempo, at the Museo Italo Americano

Michele Cascella , born in Ortona in the Abruzzo region of Italy in 1892, was a versatile painter and to some – a timeless painter. Italian art critic, Alberico Sala, said Cascella had taken note of everything around him, but always remained his own unshakable self. The various “isms” that have held sway at one time or another over the artistic world have never affected his art in any real or meaningful sense, and his painting has always retained that extraordinary quality of freshness and candor, in its fable-like treatment of images sharing their joy with us through the quality of his eye and the openness of his heart. Giovanni Titta Rosa remembers him as having a gait which was a cross between a fisherman’s and a shepherd’s but with “a Majella’s leap locked up in a strong body.” He always had a pipe in his mouth, had boyish eyes and would always be smiling.

MICHELE CASCELLA

Cascella exhibited for the first time at the Famiglia Artistic in Milan and was hailed as a child prodigy. The following year, his work was displayed at the Café Ligure in Turin, in 1909 at the Druet Gallery in Paris, and at the Salon d’Auttonne in 1910. During this period, his medium consisted mainly of the use of pastels and some oils. He exhibited regularly at Venice Biennale from 1924 until 1942. Much of his time in the 1960’s and 1970’s was spent in Palo Alto and Tuscany where he married his second wife, Isabella. His drawings are fanciful, brimming with bright colors and often of localities that were dear to his heart both in Italy and Paris.

“Pastels have always had a kind of spell on me… almost a suggestive power,” said Michele Cascella. “They have at times caused me, I don’t know how to describe it, to dream, to escape, reality, to reach as state of pure abstraction, yet nonetheless concrete and true. I paint to express myself within the limits of my human defect. It is hard to state precisely the purpose of what I create. Ever since the earliest days of my youth , I carry on and renew a dialogue, from one canvas to the next, with a world of nature and man–made things. I painted, I continued to paint and for me painting is synonymous with living, seeing that I could not live without painting. My inspiration for my paintings have little or nothing to do directly with the painting itself. Most of the inspirations come from the distant emotions – the intimate emotionality aroused by a musical piece, a theatrical performance or folkloric spectacle. It’s the inner feelings, therefore, that feed my instinctive creative process.

Interesting Facts About Rio de Janeiro

In this article we have gathered a couple of interesting facts about the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Some of you may know them while others find out for the first time. Regardless of the category you fall into, here are some cool facts about one of the most exciting cities in the entire world:

First, let’s go back to 1502 when the explorers arrived in Guanabara Bay on New Year’s Day. They mistook the bay for the mouth of a mighty river and this is why they’ve called the place Rio de Janeiro (“River of January”).

The rich elite of the city enjoys dressing up their pampered cats and dogs in hats, shoes and some even buy them full outfits. Without any doubt, poodles are the most popular dogs in the city’s high society, and some of them even have different outfits every single day of the week.

The funk music you’ve heard has no resemblance to the funkiness style of James Brown. Carioca Funk is in fact a style of music that features lyrics which are shouted over small keyboards.

One of the most densely populated places in the world is Copacabana, as there are approximately 25,000 people per square meter. Most of the city’s inhabitants are squeezed into the myriad high rise apartments that can be widely found in the neighborhood.

The roots of today’s Rio de Janeiro Carnival can be found back in 1641, when the Portuguese settlers celebrated Ash Wednesday by organizing sophisticated parties and masked balls. At the beginning of the 20th century, samba began to make a significant appearance in the carnival festivities. In 1928, the first official samba school was opened.

If you are a soccer fan, you probably know that the iconic Maracana Stadium holds the record for the biggest attendance of any football/soccer match in the entire history of this very popular sport. The all-time records goes back to the 1950 World Cup final when about 200,000 fans showed up for the decisive match between Brazil and Uruguay.

Contrary to the common belief, the favelas of Rio are not populated only by drug dealers and bandits. 20% of the city’s residents actually live in the favelas, and most of them have regular day-to-day jobs as cleaners, security workers, restaurant workers, bar staff, etc.

In Rio you will find the Theatro Municipal, which was built in the early 1900s, located at the heart of Centro.

Stravinsky, a creative spring : Russia and France, 1882-1934

The Metropolitan Opera encyclopedia, a comprehensive guide to the world of opera

The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers

The concise Oxford dictionary of music

The Harvard concise dictionary of music and musicians