Papier-mache

The artistic personality of the cartapesta master from the authentic Lecce school is unique for its completeness, together with sculptors, painters, craftsmen and plasterers. This is Franceseco Calignano, born in Lecce on January 1, 1954.
A multifaceted artist (musician, painter, sculptor), he has a deep knowledge of the history and culture of his area, Salento. He completed his studies at the Liceo Artistico di Lecce.

Always fascinated by the art of cartapesta, he excels in the most difficult and refined area of the art: statuary. He worked for years at the side of Professor Mario Di Donfrancesco, one of the four Cartapestaio masters who were the sole heirs of the Baroque cartapesta tradition in Lecce.
A painter of incredible technique, creator of neo-baroque canvases which also incorporate a variety of preceding styles, excellent portraitist, is linked to the school of painting in the Neapolitan tradition.

The origins of cartapesta, which are both mysterious and ancient, lie in the Middle and Far East. It was only in the Middle Ages that the technique arrived in the West, discovered by the Venetians in China as well as having been dispersed by the Arabs in Andalusia.
It is believed that the genre expanded in the seventeenth century in Italy under the influence of Spanish domination. The intense trading in that period established between La Serenissima and merchants from Salento determined the autonomous self-development of the new technique in Lecce, which benefited from the contributions from the contemporary developments in Neapolitan production.
It was in Lecce, however, that the art of cartapesta reached its peak. Second only to the capital in the Kingdom of Naples, the city boasted eighteen Patron Saints and sixteen Confraternities. In the face of such a demand for the sacred, cartapesta offered a speed of execution and lightness of materials in statuary such that, although it perfectly imitated bronze and marble while harmoniously integrated in a lapidary style, it could easily be carried in a procession. Within the past few years, some cartapesta masters have been bringing back the once-glorious tradition of cartapesta in Lecce.

Cartapesta is pulp paper macerated in a solution of water and flour glue, tamped into a container with a stone, and then boiled. The mass is then pressed to remove excess water and mixed with a solution of animal glue, pasta starch and resin. The resulting compound, which is uniform, is applied by the pressure of the index finger onto a wooden armature or plaster cast, based on the original clay models of the artist. When shaping is completed, the work is left to slowly dry outdoors or in heated rooms and is then “finished” with rasps in order to remove the roughness and smooth the surfaces. Hot irons are used to mark the folds and amend the expressive details. Once coated with substances to protect it from moisture, woodworms and heat, the model is ready for coloring; with tempera and then oil.

Cartapesta artist at work – the stages of execution of a papier mache bust. Photos of the preparation of an angel with string

Artists believe that the correct teaching of the technique of cartapesta and the art of painting can be realized only on an individual level or in small groups (max 4 students). Under the attentive guidance of an expert, the students begin to create small works and then gradually move on to work on to greater projects.

The art critic Mario Antonio Marzo's interpretation of one of Calignano's painted works, Eufrosina Calignano with Grandchildren:

“… … Here the presence of classical architecture constitutes the imposing, symbolic counterpart to the matriarchal presence of Donna Eufrosina, in an iconic image of femininity: one notes the vulval appearance of the roses, purifcicatory, prenatal water, flowing from a source near the temple; the hydratic atmosphere of the painting. The elements are so calibrated in this great canvas, so abstract, and the vision in a light that is both flat and drowsy, that the realism fades into a solemn, metaphysical dimension. It is an immobility that is both intimate and enchanted that repeats itself in so many portraits by the artist. They are representations of photographic realism, but at the same time capable of creating the suggestion of silence and dreams. They are icons of a quiet world absorbed into the attitude of the painter which seems to oscillate between prickly psychological penetration, feelings of affection and symbolic exaltation…”

Francesco Calignano
Via Nazionale, 122
73030 Montesardo (LE) Italy
Tel. +39 0833 785933
Mob. +39 333 8746732
info@francescocalignano.it

For housing: www.lagrenza.it