Gianni Russian Biography
Gianni Russian, born in Trieste in 1922, carried out his initial artistic training in Venice, at the Carmini Art Institute. In 1943, he obtained the qualification to teach art. During his military service, he was taken prisoner by the German army on 8 September 1943 and imprisoned in a prison camp in Germany. From this tragic experience, he created an album of drawings that testify to the cruelty and inhumanity of the days gone by. He was liberated on May 5, 1945. 1946 was a turning point for Russian. He began teaching at a middle school and, at the same time, resumed his artistic activity. Under the guidance of the painters Edgardo Sambo and Carlo Sbisà, he attended the nude school of the Revoltella Museum and obtained his first private commissions. He soon concentrated his interest mainly in the field of drawing, particularly engraving, experimenting with new technical possibilities. He began exhibiting in group exhibitions in Trieste and other Italian cities. Since 1950, he began a profitable activity in the field of decoration and furnishing of cruise ships, collaborating with artists and architects of local importance, such as Marcello Mascherini, Ugo Carà and Umberto Nordio, in contact with the Milanese school of Giò Ponti. In 1954, he organized his first solo exhibition in Trieste. Since 1956, he has taught textile design at the Art Institute of Trieste. He participated in the National Art Quadrennial in Rome and was invited to exhibit in Mexico City. In 1957-58, he undertook a vast pictorial cycle to decorate the common spaces and the Teatrino of the "Santorio Santorio" sanatorium in Trieste. He died suddenly on November 24, 1962.
