Carlo Musso (1907-1968) - Bosco di montagna - NO RESERVE

This is a very thickly textured oil on a wooden panel measuring 35x44 cm, which my maternal grandmother’s second husband, who was an ambassador in the early years of fascism, received as a gift from a Piedmont painter in the 1930s/40s.

The painter in question is almost certainly Carlo Musso (1907–1968), one of the most appreciated and prolific exponents of 20th-century Piedmontese landscape painting. That explains why everything aligns perfectly:

Carlo Musso was born in Balangero (in the Metropolitan City of Turin) and received his training precisely at the Albertina Academy in Turin under the guidance of great masters such as Luigi Onetti and Cesare Ferro. This perfectly explains why he was in Turin and its surroundings in the early 1920s, precisely the period when he began to make his first steps in the art world and to paint his first intense Alpine landscapes.

Musso’s production is famous precisely for this type of views. Art critics describe his style as a very animated, dynamic, and materic impressionism, characterized by a fluid, rapid, and cursive touch, perfect for imparting freshness to the work carried out directly on site (en plein air). This way of laying down color with spatula strokes or dense brushwork is exactly what is observed on the pines and the undergrowth of the panel.

The preferred subjects and the gifts
Musso loved painting the unspoiled Piedmontese nature: the Alpine valleys (he frequented the Valley of Susa, the Val d’Ayas, and the Valtournenche very often) and the Turin hills (where this ambassador relative frequently went). He was a very generous artist and integrated into the cultural life of the region; he painted many studies and quick sketches on small wooden boards or pressed cardboard (often in formats like 25x30, 30x40 or similar), frequently giving them to local people, friends, or vacation companions.

Analyzing the style and the support, here are the main characteristics of the work:
It is an en plein air painting with an impressionist or post-impressionist origin, likely datable to the first half of the 20th century (roughly between 1920 and 1950).

Technique: The application of color is extremely textured, carried out in small touches and layers (impasto), intended to capture the fragmented natural light that filters through the branches.