Mogadiscio (Somalia), Casa degli italiani

The following year (1988), the artist was invited to the International Festival of Sacred Art in Spoleto, where he displayed a large altar-piece, Crocefissione [Crucifixion]. In June, the town of Voghera hosted two solo exhibitions, one at the Ex Caserma di Cavalleria, which housed the paintings returned by the Somali Embassy, and one at the Museum of Contemporary Art in the castle of Montesegale, with the artist’s most recent works.

In 1961 (the year in which he painted an altar-piece for the Church of San Colombano in Ottone Soprano – Piacenza) he returned permanently to Italy. He devoted himself to the complex painting of the fresco in the Church of Santa Teresa in Albaro, Genoa: the work was completed only in 1965, because of some disagreements between the artist and the Curia. In 1963, he painted a big decorative panel portraying an abstract city for the pavilion of the national association of insurance companies at the Fiera Internazionale in Genoa.

The exhibitions of these years (Palazzo Bernini-Benzoni, Rome, and Padiglione dell’Artigianato, Sassari) testify the value of the African experience.

Africa

1954 – He left for Mogadishu, Somalia.

This was the first of a series of trips across Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, Congo, Southern Rhodesia, South Africa).

Africa became for him a primary source of inspiration: there he produced several works and obtained important public commissions (such as the frescoes for the Hall of the Council of Ministers in the Somali Parliament and the mixed-media panels for the Aula Magna of the Mogadishu University). He successfully exhibited in several cities, including Johannesburg and Salisbury, where he received the visit of the Queen of England.

He also devoted himself to photography, as testified by the Album Somalo. Some of his writings date back to this period.

The 1940s

Like all young artists, in 1940 and 1941 Giovanni successfully participated in the Mostre Prelittoriali, organized for university students. This was a necessary step for all artists to develop their career in the structured fascist control system.

At the outbreak of war, he was enlisted in the army and sent to the French front, where he came to know about his mother’s death. He was then discharged and came back to Genoa. Thanks to the director of the Accademia, he did not return to the front.

Instead, he actively took part in the Resistance (together with his fellow student, Giacomo Buranello). He also hid the sculptor Agenore Fabbri, who was wanted by the Brigate Nere [Black Brigades].  

Despite the danger, Novaresio continued to successfully exhibit (for example at the 14th Inter-provincial exhibition).

He was part of the group of artists who gravitated around the Galleria Romano but, above all, he was one of the founders of the cultural association L’Isola, which he directed together with Sandro Cherchi. The members of this association were not only interested in painting and sculpture, but also in music and theatre, organizing shows and concerts by the most important musicians of the time. They also published the magazine Sipario (edited by Ivo Chiesa): Novaresio drew the cover of the first issue and illustrated Caligula by Camus. This gallery soon became the focal point of the Avant-garde in Genoa, attracting artists such as Scanavino, Fieschi and Borella, who considered Novaresio as one of his Masters. In these years, Giovanni experienced new forms of expression, illustrating Il romanzo di Rama by Giovanna Atzori and painting the scenery for Anphitirion 38 by Girardoux, staged by Giulio Cesare Castello (1948).

He rejected the invitation to the Venice Biennale to show his solidarity with the artists who were not allowed to participate. As a member of the jury, he imposed the presence of Scanavino at the Mostra di Pittori Italiani in Argentina [exhibition of Italian artists in Argentina].