Set Of Six Dining Chairs In Wood By Sineo Gemignani Italian Manufacture 1940s

A very rare set of six dining chairs entirely made in curved wood, this set was designed by the Italian artist Sineo Gemignani and manufactured in Italy during the 1940s.

The artist was born in Livorno on 30 July 1917, but around the early 1920s, the family was forced to return to the places of origin of his father (San Pantaleo near Vinci) because of his political activity that had attracted the attention of the fascist. Here the little Sineo is directed to the study of art by his master Virgilio Gandi. The family then moved to Empoli, where Sineo spent the rest of his life and died prematurely on May 22, 1973.

Sineo Gemignani trained artistically at the Royal Art Institute of Porta Romana in Florence, where, in those years they taught important masters such as Libero Andreotti, Gianni Vagnetti, Pietro Parigi, Giuseppe Lunardi.
In those years a reference figure for the artist’s training was also the Empoli painter Virgilio Carmignani.
Entrusted to the tutelage of Carmignani, Sineo began to frequent the group of painters from Empoli, composed among others by Ghino Baragatti and Mario Maestrelli.
Always during the period spent at the Art Institute was born the deep and fraternal friendship with Dilvo Lotti, talented painter of San Miniato, friendship that will be interrupted only with the death of Sineo.

After completing his studies, in 1939, he was enlisted in the Italian Army, thus beginning a long period that led him to fight in the Balkans (1942). In August 1944 he participated in the liberation of Florence and in February 1945 he enlisted as a volunteer, taking part in the operations for the liberation of northern Italy with the Mantua Combat Group. These years are documented by numerous drawings and engravings that describe the tragic events of which he was a participant and that testify how the civil commitment is intertwined with the artistic vocation of Sineo.

Between 1946 and 1949 he made short stays in Milan, where he collaborated with his friend Ghino Baragatti on the decoration of the atrium of the new cinema-auditorium in the Galleria Manzoni. During his stay in Milan he came into contact with a stimulating climate, met painters and gallerists and reflected on the abstract currents, as evidenced by various paintings of that period. But he feels that all this does not belong to him and takes the path of realism.

In the 1950s Gemignani began the central decade of his activity as an artist and as a man, as he actively participated in the cultural and political life of Empoli. They are years of intense work, especially with the technique of mural painting and in particular, in the form of the fresco torn and brought to the table. There are numerous participations in collective exhibitions and artistic initiatives, earning awards and recognitions.

In 1958 he also began his teaching activity in the Art Institutes of Florence (1958-1960), Siena (1960-1964), Pisa (1964-1973) in which he teaches drawing from life. He participates in various competitions for the realization of public works.
In the following decade, he devoted himself to the research of new expressive techniques, in particular in the field of engraving, practicing especially in portraits. In painting, however, he is increasingly oriented towards the observation of daily life, even in the most modern aspects. Works focused on sports, caricature portraits, life on the beach took shape.
In the last phase of his life, he dedicated himself in particular to the realization of a project with a chivalrous subject. From the second half of the 1960s he began the preparatory study for the realization of a large fresco for the decoration of the living room of a private home. The chosen subject was taken from a heroic poem by Ippolito Neri entitled La Presa di San Miniato. Of the project, which remained unfinished due to the death of Sineo, there remain the preparatory cardboard for the fresco and numerous drawings that served to paint the last of his wall paintings, The Battle of Montaperti in 1971, commissioned by the Circolo Farinata degli Uberti of Empoli.

In 1974 the first retrospective entitled to Sineo Gemignani was held at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Empoli.
In 1995, at the Convent and Church of Santo Stefano degli Agostiniani in Empoli, the artist’s solo exhibition was inaugurated, which constitutes an important moment of critical reflection on his artistic production.
Price is for set

Condition report:

Good Wear consistent with age and use.

Additional dimensions information:

Height: 104 cmWidth:46 cmDepth: 44 cmSeat Height: 17.72 in (45 cm)