Influences
It can be difficult to choose a single cultural reference point: true originality is rare, and in every artistic field—literature, visual arts, music—there is always a shared “collective unconscious” that resurfaces, a kind of compound ghost (in Eliot’s sense) that shapes and informs new work.
We can speak of a visual “intertextuality”, as if paintings were texts that converse with other texts. Tradition—sometimes a heavy burden—must be faced and brought back to life, transformed within the new.
Among Giuntini’s points of reference we can find different masters. Below are short excerpts taken from pages dedicated to them.
Giovanni March:
A major artist of the Gruppo Labronico, he was born in Livorno. In his work—especially in scenes of the sea—an enduring love for his city clearly emerges, never forgotten.
(source: http://www.toscana-arte.it/giovanni_march.htm)
Giovanni Fattori
Considered the greatest exponent of the Macchiaioli, Giovanni Fattori began with drawing and early training, then arrived at a painting rooted in reality: landscapes, scenes of daily life, and above all powerful depictions of military life and battles, where the drama of the wounded is rendered with stark sincerity.
From that period onward, Fattori created numerous works devoted to the Maremma and to rural life; the horizontality of many compositions emphasizes the vastness of the land and the essential truth of the scene.
(source: http://www.francescomorante.it/pag_3/303e.htm)
French Impressionists
Impressionism is a movement born in France a few years after the Florentine Macchiaioli—often underestimated by critics and the art market, despite their pioneering role.
The Impressionists took their name from an article by critic Louis Leroy, inspired by Monet’s painting Impression, Sunrise, exhibited at the first independent show.
The opening date of that exhibition—15 April 1874—is considered symbolic, marking the official birth of Impressionism.
In reality the movement existed already: the idea that each observer perceives reality differently had been studied for years.
Impressionism’s essential aim is to represent the “impression” of the moment: light and atmosphere, and the vitality of the modern world—sometimes extended to the human figure and urban life.
The true modernity lies in perception: not the objective detail, but the reasoned synthesis that helps to grasp reality in its substance.
For the Impressionists, everything we see is light and color: colors vary infinitely with changing light.
Ultimately Impressionism is a triumph of color and vibration, and its kinship with the Macchiaioli—true forerunners of the movement—is one of the most striking aspects for a contemporary reader.
(source: http://www.artemotore.com/impressionismo.html)