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Nino Giuffrida
Title: The Harlequins of Montmartre
Ink and light watercolor drawing
Dimensions: 18 × 26 cm (7 × 10 1/4 in)
Signed and dated 2001
Description and Critical Analysis of the Work
With The Harlequins of Montmartre, Nino Giuffrida revisits one of the themes that marked his imagination: the world of performance, street entertainers, and the commedia dell’arte. In this airy drawing, the artist uses supple lines and delicate washes to compose a scene that is both theatrical and introspective. The central face, rendered with an economy of means, radiates a quiet melancholy, as if caught in a moment of silent reverie.
Around it gravitate loosely sketched, almost ghostlike figures that seem to emerge from backstage scenery. The subtle touches of color—pale green, yellow, red—function as accents, emphasizing the fleeting nature of the moment and the dreamlike atmosphere of the composition. This work, somewhere between sketch and finished piece, perfectly illustrates Giuffrida’s ability to capture the spirit of a place—here Montmartre and its spectacles—by combining direct observation with poetic stylization.
Biographical Note
Nino Giuffrida (Catania, 1924 – Rosny-sous-Bois, 2015) was an Italian painter who settled in France in 1949. Passionate about art from an early age, he pursued painting despite his father’s opposition and studied at the Art High School in Catania. A formative stay in Rome during his military service in 1944 revealed to him the grandeur of the Old Masters and confirmed his artistic vocation.
Arriving in Montmartre in the late 1940s, he faced difficult beginnings before establishing himself with his depictions of “children”—round-faced, wide-eyed figures full of innocence—that became his signature. Inspired by the balls at the Moulin de la Galette, the circus, the harlequins of the commedia dell’arte, and Degas’ ballerinas, he created a universe where innocence and theatricality meet.
His work, infused with impressionist, cubist, and modernist influences, blends figuration and abstraction in a constant search for harmony and rhythm. Winner of the Gold Medal at the Ancona Graphic Arts Exhibition, Giuffrida exhibited widely in Paris, Brussels, Milan, Chicago, and Copenhagen, earning recognition among collectors and galleries in Europe and the United States. One of his works is held today at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
A cosmopolitan artist, Nino Giuffrida succeeded in bridging Mediterranean memory with Parisian vibrancy, producing a body of work that is lively, joyful, yet always deeply humane.
