Giuseppe Migneco
1908–1997 · Italian Expressionist painter associated with the Corrente group
Giuseppe Migneco (Messina, 1908 – Milan, 1997) was an Italian painter and a prominent figure in twentieth-century Italian Expressionism. Linked to the Corrente movement, he often painted workers and rural life in a distinctive expressionist manner.
Born in Messina, he grew up in the Ponteschiavo neighbourhood, the son of a railway station master and a schoolteacher. At twenty-three he moved to Milan to enrol in medicine at the University of Milan, but he became absorbed in the local art scene, where he met Renato Birolli, Raffaele De Grada, Beniamino Joppolo and Aligi Sassu. He worked as an illustrator for the weekly children's magazine Corriere dei Piccoli, lost interest in his medical studies and resolved to become a painter.
In 1937 he helped found the anti-fascist Corrente group, connected to the journal Corrente di Vita, and took part in its exhibitions. After the Second World War he resumed his career with a show at the Galleria Santa Redegonda in Milan in 1945. He was invited to the Rome Quadriennale several times, and in 1952 his solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale was introduced by Salvatore Quasimodo. In 1983 a large retrospective was devoted to him at the Palazzo Comunale in his native Messina.
Works (1)
A fresco depicting emigration, part of the open-air mural gallery at Arcumeggia. Painted directly on a village wall, the work is seen in its everyday setting rather than behind museum walls, which shapes how visitors encounter it. Its subject, the departure of someone leaving home, speaks to a widely shared experience. The available record does not specify the exact date or the finer details of its composition.
Where to see the work
- Arcumeggia open-air mural gallery Casalzuigno · 1