William Girometti

William Girometti (Milan, 9 January 1924 – Bologna, 3 October 1998) was an Italian painter of Surrealist influence.

Biography William Girometti was born in Milan and spent his childhood and early years there, becoming involved with the Accademia di Brera in the period of the Second World War. At the end of the war, he began traveling and living in other Italian cities; in Ferrara, in 1954, he met the woman who would some years later become his wife.

In Ferrara, and in particular Pontelagoscuro, in the early 1950s, he came into contact with a group of young painters (including Tito Salomoni) with whom he would establish a strong friendship and who would encourage him in making painting his career. Disamina della verità obiettiva (Close examination of unbiased truth), 1979. This painting was recommended by UNICEF in 1979 for the International Year of the Child and published on the cover of the January issue of the journal Simpatia e Amicizia in the same year. Initially, in fact, he had devoted himself to sculpture, which was not completely abandoned until the end of the 1960s, as a review from 1968 demonstrates; in it, the art critic Fiorani expresses his esteem for the «sure command of expressive means», the «incisiveness of the faces», the «harmonious rhythm» and the «perfect balance between form, light and space».

Towards the end of the 1950s he spent a period of time studying and working in France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Denmark and Sweden before returning to Italy to divide his time between Milan and Ferrara. In particular, he exhibited his works numerous times in Milan in shows of the Permanente.

In the 1960s he began his production, destined to become copious, of portraits and trompe-l'œil works, most of which were commissioned by private collectors and art dealers; finally settling in Bologna with his wife, he started in 1971 «chromatic sensitivity», «impeccable technique» and «command of form», together with the emphasis on content expressed through the «interesting fusion of irony and polemic» that only seemingly results in pessimism.

A few reviews underline both the effective elaboration of the teachings of André Breton and the reference to René Magritte, with whom in particular he shared «a singularity of images» and «visual tricks» also achieved through the use of trompe-l'oeil.

If, as a sculptor, he had favored the use of clay, as a painter he created mostly paintings in oil on canvas or wood, along with some pastels and the occasional tempera. Towards the end of the 1970s he invented his own graphics technique, a technique he never divulged.

He also wrote verse, and in the dépliant of the exhibit at "Il Collezionista" one of his poems was published.

In his last years he devoted himself to the study of glass and experimented with new aesthetic realizations of constant themes; at his death in 1998 a Surrealistic Neptune and two other works were left unfinished. A few months before dying he was gratified by a retrospective dedicated entirely to him, organized by the University and by the Comune of Bologna.

The Art of Girometti In 1976 the art critic Otello Mario Martinelli introduced a radio interview synthesizing the artistic development of William Girometti: «starting with his early interest in Impressionism, which dates back to 1960, yielding to his natural predisposition for the human body, he has created many portraits – also using sculpture – while his inner evolution is leading him to the painting of reality with compositions and trompe-l'oeil that he expresses with soft lines and harmonious colors. In 1971 he became interested in Surrealism». Girometti essentially brought about the «rehabilitation of Surrealism, not experienced passively but instead felt as a strong stimulus thanks to which the imagination manages to stand up for its rights».

A «vast humanistic culture»

Many critics have hypothetized about the meaning of some of his works in particular, always underlining their «difficult interpretation» and the «depth of inquiry»,

In graphics «the inspiring theme of childhood above all, and of the woman considered as a human subject, is interlaced with metaphors»;

Collective exhibitions 1975: Porto Verde (Misano Adriatico), Comunità Europea Artisti, 2–23 August 1977: Bologna, Commissione Cultura Sport e Tempo Libero, 1 May-5 June 1978: Bologna, "Portici" art gallery, 3–19 January 1978: Bologna, Teatro Comunale, 8–10 December 1979: Modena and Pinarella di Cervia, "Ghirlandina Arte" art gallery, 1 June-30 September 1980: Bologna, Centro Arte e Ricerca, 14–30 June 1980: Bologna, Circolo Artistico, 21 June-13 July 1981: Bologna, Museo Civico, 30 July-2 August 1981: Bologna, Palazzo d'Accursio, Salone d'Ercole, 2–31 December 1982: Altedo, Sala Rinascita, 22–23 May 1983: Genova-Cornigliano, Palazzo Bombrini, 14–24 January 1983: Altedo, Sala Rinascita, 28–31 May 1987: Bologna, Palazzo Re Enzo, Sala dei Trecento 1998: Bologna, Primavera Spring Printemps: mostra di pittura all'aperto, Piazzetta di via San Nicolò, 29–31 May; organized by the University of Bologna and by the Comune among others. 2024: Milan, Museo d'arte e scienza, 27 January-5 February

Prizes and awards

Picture Gallery