Sergio Brignoni

1903 Chiasso - 2002 Zollikofen

The noted surrealist painter, sculptor and engraver Sergio Brignoni is considered one of the leading Swiss artists of the 20th Century. His works can be found in major museums in Switzerland and beyond, including the Kunstmuseums of Bern and Zurich.

In addition to his fame as an artist, Brignoni is known for the extraordinary collection of Oceanic and Indonesian art which he contributed to the city of Lugano and forms the basic of the collection in the Villa Heleneum.

Born in Ticino, the Italian region of Switzerland Sergio Brignoni moved as a young boy with his family to the city of Bern, and studied at that city's school of applied arts ( Kunstgewerbeschule ) as well as in the studio of the noted Bernese painter Viktor Surbek. In the early 1920s, Brignoni left for Berlin to continue his artistic studies at the Hochschule für bildende Kunst. It was there that saw and was influenced by the works of Paul Cezanne, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. Social unrest in Berlin led Brignoni to transfer to the Academy of the Grande Chaumiere in Paris, where he became a student and collaborator of Andre Lhote, and developed friendships with a broad circle of artists including Alberto Giacometti and Massimo Campigli.

In the ensuing years Brignoni exhibited widely in France and beyond including at the gallery Acher which was frequented by Andre Breton and in Maastricht with Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti and Stanley Hayter (The Group Atelier 17). On the even of WWII, Brignoni was forced to return from Paris to Switzerland, where he participated in the artist's initiative "Gruppo 33" - an antifascist art mouvement which originated in Basel and counted Meret Oppenheim, Otto Abt and many others as members.

Sources: Sikart
Benezit Dictionary of Artists