Pasquarosa Marcelli's Rediscovery at Estorick Collection

Nearly a century after her international debut, Italian painter Pasquarosa Marcelli (1896–1973) is being rediscovered in a new exhibition at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art in London. The show, curated by Pier Paolo Pancotto, aims to restore her reputation as a significant early 20th-century artist, rather than just a model. Born into a peasant family in Anticoli Corrado, she moved to Rome at sixteen, working as a model for sculptors and painters including Nicola d'Antino and Felice Carena. She later married painter Nino Bertoletti and joined the artistic community at Villa Strohl-Fern. Self-taught, she developed a spontaneous, fauvist style distinct from her peers. Her first solo exhibition was at the Arlington Gallery in London in 1929, featuring 39 works shown from February 5 to 15, which was a rare success for an Italian woman artist. Critic Cipriano Efisio Oppo had earlier called her a "phenomenon of art." She exhibited at the Third International Exhibition of the Roman Secession in 1915, and later showed in Paris, Madrid, Nice, and Geneva. She won the Premio Marzotto and participated in the Rome Quadriennale and Venice Biennale. Her work, often compared to Matisse, features vibrant still lifes of everyday objects. Art historian Roberto Longhi associated her with the Irrealists. The Estorick exhibition highlights her lively, dreamlike paintings, reasserting her artistic independence.