Giuseppe Novello: satirist and painter rediscovered

Giuseppe Novello (Codogno, 1897-1988) was a pioneer of social satire in Italy. After studying at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Milano in 1919, he exhibited at four editions of the Venice Biennale and the Quadriennale. His satirical career began in 1925 with the magazine L'Alpino, where he signed his cartoons as number 46. Through journalist Paolo Monelli, he published the book 'La guerra è bella ma scomoda' in 1929 and collaborated with Gazzetta del Popolo in the 1930s. During WWII he was captured and sent to a German camp in Wietzendorf, Lower Saxony. After the war, his weekly collaboration with La Stampa from 1948 to 1965 brought him fame for his precise, biting satire of the Italian bourgeoisie. In the 1960s, unable to depict the economic boom, he returned to painting, which he had abandoned in 1940. His work is preserved at the Pro Loco di Codogno and the Fondazione Lamberti.