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Early Life

Luigi Lucioni was born in the northern Italian city of Malnate in 1900. With his mother and three sisters he immigrated in 1911 to New York City, entering through Ellis Island. In 1906, his father had traveled to the United States seeking employment. Upon their arrival the family moved to North Bergan, New Jersey where Luigi attended school, finishing the 8th grade.

Art Education

    In 1916, he entered the Cooper Union School of Art (New York) where for the next four years he studied art under the direction of William Starkweather and William de Leftwich Dodge.
    He enrolled at the National Academy of Design (NAD) in 1919 where he continued his artistic studies and where he was introduced to the art of etching by his teacher, William Auerbach-Levy.
    In 1924, he received a prestigious scholarship at the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation. He returned there each year until 1932. At the Tiffany Foundation students were expected to devote themselvdes almost entirely to landscapes with an emphiasis on plein air painting. He said later, "I owe my career to the Tiffany Foundation."
    He realized his first commercial success in 1925 when he sold his first painting to the wife of Giovanni Martinelli, the celebrated operatic tenor. Lucioni developed a lifelong passion for opera where he developed close friendships with most of the prominent opera stars of the day such as Martinelli, Rose Bampton, Arturo Toscanini, and Ethel Waters.
    In 1925, and again in 1928, he returned to his Italian homeland. During these visits he reveled in the beauty of the countryside, painting, etching, and studying the works of the old masters in museums.

Career

    At age 30 (1930) his career skyrocketed when he sold his painting, Pears with Pewter, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, making him at that time the youngest living contemporary artist to sell a painting the the Metropolitan.
    Also in 1930, he met Electra Havemeyer Webb, wife of J. Watson Webb, and she became his single most important patron. In the summer months he would travel to Shelburne, Vermont, where he lived in a guest house on the Webb estate. He eventually bought a house in Manchester, Vermont, and each summer for the rest of his life he painted the surrounding area. He became well known painting local landscapes especially those with birch trees. He became known as "The painter of birches."
    He was equally adept at still-life and portrait painting, althought he generally did not like doing portraits. In the winter months he resided at his studio at 33 West 10th Street in New York City, painting and etching. Frequently he would use one of his summer landscapes as the basis for an etching. Associated American Artists bought many of his etching plates, printed them, and sold them in their sale catalogues. Ordinary Americans could buy these etchings for just a few dollars.
    He said that he had three loves in his life; dogs, opera and painting, probably in that order. Robin, his Yorkshire Terrier was his last companion. She was killed when she slipped out of his grasp and was hit by a car.

Death

    On July 22, 1988 Lucioni died at his New York studio at the age of 88. He had received wide critical acclaim and rewards for his artistic endeavors, and he was surrounded by a large group of interesting and stimulating opera friends. Today, his work continues to be treasured by collectors and museum goers. 

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