CARLO PARRI (1897 - 1969)

Genoan by adoption, Carlo Parri was born in Torrita di Siena on June 2, 1897. His father was a miller from Gora. When Carlo Parri was eleven years old, the family moved to Genoa. He maintained strong ties to his birthplace, however, and from 1946 on he would spend most of his vacations there.

He is an integral part of our early 20th century art history. It’s a history that hasn’t yet been properly compiled, despite the notable, though fragmentary, contributions of Grosso, Cappellini, Riva, Balestreri, Giacomo Migene and the magazine – “Voce di Genoa” (Voice of Genoa), as well as the new encyclopedia of art A.M. Comanducci.
Carlo Parri’s debut as an artist is linked to the 69th Exhibition of the Society of Fine Arts in Genoa.
He had personal exhibits in Genoa, Milan and Savona.

In Genoa he was part of the free arts initiative movement of the Casana Group, while in Milan he periodically had shows with the Permanent Society of Fine Arts and Exhibits.
He produced more than 500 paintings.

A skilled portraitist, he also became a fine drawer of the human body – particularly the female body.
In June of 1969 he was diagnosed with an incurable disease and he died the following September.
Before his death, fully conscious of what he was doing, he willed his entire body of work to Torrita di Siena and the Maestri Hospital.
In accordance with the artist’s wishes, many of the works were sold to galleries and private buyers in order to pay for restoration work on the hospital, but a large part of the collection is still on display in Torrita’s Town Hall.
Carlo Parri did many portraits of his favourite model, Corinna Grisola, of whom he said: “The shape of her body was perfect, her gaze had an angelic expression that I had never before seen in a woman.”

The Genoese jeweler, Clemente Mazzarello, must have had the same opinion of his future wife when he met her in a brothel in Genoa.
Completely smitten, he wanted to redeem her.
But Mazzarello suffered terrible abuse at her hands until finally, on February 17, 1944, Corinna killed him by stabbing him 43 times.
She was found bound and gagged, making it look like an attack during an attempted robbery.
The artist was called as a character witness in her defense at the trial, which began on March 10th, 1949.

The weekly publication OMNIBUS, blew it up into a major, front-page story.