Introduction
Giovanni Philippone was born in Sicily in 1922. He graduated from the Palermo Artistic High School in 1942 and enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts of Palermo. In 1946 he moved to Milan where he concluded his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera with the guidance of Aldo Carpi and Eva Thea and he wins the Hayez prize.
In 1950 he moved to Paris where he attended theAcademie des Beaux Art with the guidance ofLeger and befriended Gino Severini. In 1952 he moved back to Milan and wrote a manifesto about the diatribe between abstractionism and socialist realism during the Bergamini gallery exhibition,
His artistic ideas did not lose out to jolts or trends, but within the figurative trend the maturation of his style remained faithful to his ideas. This coherence includes experimentations with other materials such as glass, that he worked with in 1953/54, collaborating with the architects Terzaghi and Magnaghior the ceramics in 1956/60. He then perfected his engraving technique with his friend Rino Cervi.
Il suo percorso artistico non subì scossoni o virate di tendenza, ma all’interno del discorso figurativo la maturazione del suo linguaggio rimase fedele ai suoi temi. In questa coerenza tematica si inseriscono sperimentazioni con altri materiali quali il vetro, a cui lavorò negli anni 1953/54,collaborando con gli architettiTerzaghi e Magnaghio la ceramica intorno al 1956/60. Si perfezionerà poi nella tecnica dell’incisione con il suo stampatore e amico Rino Cervi.
From 1945 to 1986 he exposed his works in numerous galleries in Italy and abroad. He died in 1993.
In 2013, three permanent rooms dedicated to Philippone were inaugurated at the Municipal Building of the former Collegio dei Filippini in Agrigento. The rooms were inaugurated on the occasion of the exhibition organized for the twentieth anniversary of his death.
Index of exhibitions
- 1945 - Palermo - collective (Sanfilippo, Guttuso, Attardi, Accardi)
- 1946 - Milan - Brera Academy - Hayez Prize
- 1946 - Front of Culture (Birolli, Cassinari, Chighine, Migneco, Morlotti, Paganin, Sassu, Testori, Cavaliere, Crippa, Dova, French, Kodra, Treccani and Vedova)
- 1952 - Milan - Galleria Bergamini (Chighine, Paganin, Garau, Traverso)
- 1958 - Milan - staff - Art Gallery Selection
- 1958 - Palermo - National Sicilian Artists Exhibition
- 1958 - Alessandria - staff - La Maggiolina Gallery
- 1958 - Palermo - collective - De Gasperi Award
- 1958 - France - "Triennale de la Jansonne" award
- 1958 - Bucharest - National Museum - Italian Artists - La Colonna (Guttuso, Mafai, Sassu, Manzù, Migneco, Purificato, Bueno, Attardi, Treccani)
- 1959 - Painters of Today - Cesare da Sesto Gallery
- 1960 - collective - "Il Prisma"
- 1960 - Monreale
- 1960 - Paris - Salon de l'Art libre (Palais de Beaux - Art de la Ville de Paris)
- 1961 - Milan - Portraits of critics - Galleria Montenapoleone
- 1961 - Sesto Calende - collective
- 1961 - Milan - Show small picture
- 1962 - Palermo - Sicily Industry Award
- 1962 - Milan - Drawings and engravings of contemporary artists
- 1963 - Capo d'Orlando
- 1964 - "Sicily '64"
- 1964 - Zurich - staff - Burdeke Gallery
- 1964 - Munich - solo exhibition - Monpti Gallery
- 1965 - Milan - staff - Galleria San Fedele
- 1965 - Alessandria - staff - Galleria San Giorgio
- 1965 - Munchen - Italianische Maler, - personal - Atelier Monpti
- 1965 - Munchen - Galerie "Studio 20"
- 1965 - Palermo - "The Parthenon" Award
- 1966 - Milan - staff - Galleria Mainieri
- 1971 - Milan - staff - Galleria Schettini
- 1973 - Palermo - personal - Galleria Flaccovio
- 1974 - Milan - personal - Municipal Library
- 1975 - Monza - Arengario (Ronchi, Philippone)
- 1980 - Campione d'Italia - personal - Civic Gallery
- 1981 - Milan - staff - Galleria Schettini
- 1984 - Milan - staff - Galleria Schettini
- 1986 - Turin - staff - Galleria Arteincornice
- 2008 - Traniological exhibition - Palazzo Palmieri
- 2013- Agrigento - anthological exhibition in the Palazzo Comunale ex convent of the Filippini