Antiques and the Arts Weekly
"Vermont's Vanishing Barns: A Luigi Lucioni Retrospective"
Published by The Bee Publishing Co, Inc., Newton, Connecticut
July 16, 1993

STOWE, VT. --- Clarke Galleries is showing the work of Luigi Lucioni (1900-1988). Consisting of oil paintings, etchings and watercolors, "Vermont's Vanishing Barns" is retrospective of both the artist's work and Vermont's barns.

"As the barns come down the view comes out," poet Robert Frost once wrote about Vermont's barns. Lucioni's work, with its attention to detail and composition reflects the reverence that he felt for Vermont's barns, which he considered an integral part of the Vermont landscape.

Lucioni was born in Malante, Italyy, in 1900 and arrived in the United States at age 11. As a young man he studied art in New York at the National Academy and Cooper Union, and was awarded a Fellowship from the Tiffany Foundation. He then returned to Europe to study the paintings of the Renaissance where he was particularly influenced by the paintings of Botticelli.

At a time when many young artists in New York City were having difficult time selling their paintings, Lucioni was experiencing national recognition for his work. He was a member of the Association American Artists, and exhibited at the Ferergil Galleries.

Lucioni began painting in Vermont in 1930, when he was commissioned to paint a landscape for the just-wed Electra Bostwick (Formerly Electra Webb) of Shelburne. Vermont reminded him of Northern Italy, and he returned annually to paint in Shelburne as guest of the Webb family.

In 1939 Lucioni purchased a home in Manchester. He stayed in his Vermont home annually from May to October, where he found an endless source of inspiration in the weather-worn barns, trees and clouds.

Lucioni's awards include those from the Carnegie International, the Corcoran Gallery, the Library of Congress and the National Academy of Design. His work is in numerous permanent collections in the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum, the Whitney Museum, the Carnegie Institute, the Library of Congress, and the Fogg Museum. His work is also in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.