This important book presents the work of the fascinating and singular artist Luigi
Pericle (1916–2001). Pericle was a painter, illustrator and scholar, as well as a
leading figure in the story of art in the second half of the twentieth century.
The artist initially found fame as an illustrator, gaining widespread renown in the
1950s as the inventor of the character Max the Marmot. But his intense, enigmatic
and multi-layered paintings increasingly drew the attention of the art world, with
works that reflect his personal, metaphysical take on post-war abstraction exhibited
at numerous venues in Britain during the 1960s. Pericle then abruptly retreated
from the art system, and for the rest of his life continued to paint, write and to
study esoteric philosophy in the secluded house he shared with his wife Orsolina on
Monte Verità in the Ticino region of Switzerland. The artist’s work was dramatically
rediscovered in 2016 when the contents of his former residence were revealed.
The process of restoring, cataloguing and researching his vast oeuvre is ongoing,
and is overseen by Ascona’s Archivio Luigi Pericle, with which the exhibition has
been organised.
This beautifully illustrated publication, which accompanies an exhibition at the
Estorick Collection, London, includes a full catalogue of the works, as well as essays
by noted scholars.