Gottardo Piazzoni

Background

Piazzoni, Gottardo was born on April 14, 1872 in Intragna, Switzerland. Son of Paolo and Teresa (Cavalli) Piazzoni.

Education

Preparatory education, grammar school, Intragna, and Ginnasio, Locarno, Switzerland. Art education, California School of Design, Julian Academy and Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris.

Career

After training with Arthur Frank Mathews at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art (now the San Francisco Art Institute), Piazzonia trained for three years in Paris at the Académie Julian and under Jean-Léon Gérômedical He then returned to California to begin his career and set up his own teaching studio. Specializing in landscapes in a muted palette, most scholars count Piazzoni among the Tonalists.

He sought out the lighting effects of certain times of day, taking a "special interest in full moonrises, the viewing of which became a family ritual.

Venturing up a hill, the family would cheer the appearance of the moon. Piazzoni knew the exact time for each moonrise and kept precise records."

Piazzoni"s best-known public work may be his 14 murals for the former headquarters of the San Francisco Public Library for architect George West. Kelham, ten of them dating from 1932, the other four painted in 1945 and not installed until the 1970s.

After public debate and lawsuits in the late 1990s, the ten principal murals can now be seen at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. As of 1901 Piazzoni shared a studio with fellow painter Xavier Martínez, with whom he founded the California Society of Artists.

The relationship of Redmond, Chaplin and Piazzoni is explored in a play by Steve Hauk, 'The Floating Hat,’ published by the Traditional Fine Art Organization, Incorporated.

Among his students were George Post, Rinaldo Cuneo, and Dorr Bothwell.

American landscape painter Russell Chatham is Piazzoni"s grandson.

Achievements

• Gottardo Piazzoni has been listed as a notable artist by Marquis Who's Who.

Membership

Member San Francisco Art Association (director

Connections

Married Beatrice Delmue, December 5, 1905. Children: Romy, Mireille.

Father:

Paolo Piazzoni

Mother:

Teresa (Cavalli) Piazzoni

Spouse:

Beatrice Delmue

child:

Romy Piazzoni

child:

Mireille Piazzoni