Remo Faggi - Vecchia Pavia (Collection of 12 Multiples)

The subject of this series of prints is "Old Pavia." The artist depicts the following key locations in the city:

1. Leonardo da Vinci Square
2. The Castle
3. The Charterhouse of Pavia
4. Winter panorama
5. Borromeo Square
6. Pope's Square
7. Covered Bridge
8. Portal of the Basilica of San Michele
9. Saint Lanfranc
10. 10. Saint Theodore
11. 11. Santa Maria
12. 12. View of the Village

The master was born in Cortolona, ​​in the province of Pavia, and thus has a strong emotional connection to the city. Let's take a look at some of the most important views and corners of "his" city, imbued with a nostalgic feel. It's as if he wanted to capture in his own memory, and that of his viewers, a life from another era, a slow and reflective existence in contrast to the world around him. He therefore chooses Pavia's most important architectural monuments as the landscape he wants to convey, contrasting the grandeur of the buildings with the silence of the absence of the human figure, as if to tell us that it is not we who are destined for eternity, but rather these very landmarks that help us navigate the city.

The style of such a graphic series is necessarily dictated by the chosen graphic technique. In this case, the painter chose a lithography. We can tell it's a lithography precisely because of the linework, which resembles a drawing. In fact, limited-edition prints allow for a certain number of print runs from the same plate. There are various types of graphic art, including woodcut (probably one of the oldest and most familiar), aquatint and etching (which are complementary techniques), silkscreen, and many others, such as lithography. All these techniques are not simple prints, but graphic art created through the direct intervention of the artist's hand. The word lithography derives from the Greek and literally means "writing on stone." The technique exploits the mutual repulsion between aqueous and greasy materials. The artist, on a specially prepared, thick stone (approximately 6–12 cm), begins to trace a design with a greasy pen. This drawing must mirror the intended representation. When ink is applied to the stone, the watery parts of the stone from the initial treatment repel the ink, which settles only on the drawing. When pressed, the paper absorbs only the ink previously applied to the drawing. Precisely because this technique offers the painter great freedom, it is the closest to a true drawing. Multiple layers can create lithographs in various colors, each color requiring a separate press. Typically, each copy produced in this way is called a print run and is numbered in pencil in the lower left corner. The signature is added in pencil in the lower right corner.

Once the desired print run has been reached, the matrix is ​​"crossed out", meaning it is disfigured in such a way as to prevent further copies from being placed on the market, other than those desired by the artist.

In this case, we see the artist's confident drawing style, his quick, lively yet highly expressive strokes. And as Remo Faggi, a critic, has already said: "He saw, painted, and sang of the nature he had transfigured." He has a poetic and nostalgic soul that is also evident in these works, where he captures a city, his own city, in constant and rapid change, thus capturing the memory of a city still with an ancient feel. He leaves room for the monumental architecture of its surroundings, emptying the streets of people.

Remo Faggi is a painter and graphic artist born in Corteolona, ​​in the province of Pavia, in 1923. From a young age, he showed an interest in art, so his parents enrolled him for three years at the School of Applied Arts in Pavia, where he met artists such as Romeo Borgognoni, Romolo Bianchi, and Ercole Rinaldi, who would become his teachers. In addition to his experience as a painter of works on canvas, he also began frequenting the studio of Primo Capena, which introduced him to the art of fresco painting. This period in the early 1940s was a very happy one for him, and his artistic output was prolific. However, this period was overshadowed by the war. In 1943, Faggi was drafted into the army and was subsequently deported to a Nazi concentration camp. This traumatic experience, however, did not diminish his love for art; it was thanks in part to this that he managed to overcome the horrors of the past. Having always loved drawing, he made it his profession, becoming a professor at the Art High School of Pavia in 1971, holding the chair for 18 years.

Throughout his long career he has exhibited in national and international shows, winning several awards, and his works can be found in private collections in Italy and abroad.

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