Tableau dessin de danseuse by Gaetano de Gennaro, 1930

Subject: red dancer in motion. Support: pencil, chalk, charcoal and pastel. Dimensions with marie louise: 57 X 40 cm. Drawing dimensions: 42 X 26 cm. Era: 30s. Condition: in its juice, freckles. Signed gaetanno de gennaro. Gaetano de gennaro was born in naples in 1890 and died in são paulo, brazil in 1959. He was a sculptor painter and teacher. He studied with his uncle, luís barone in naples. He then went to paris to study with alberto besnard, whose influence can be seen in his work. He studied sculpture in grenoble with urban basset and at the ecole supérieure des arts décoratifs in nice. During his lifetime, he lived in italy, switzerland, france, england, ireland and brazil. During world war ii, de gennaro lived in ireland from 1940 to 1946. He was essentially a refugee and spent most of his stay in ireland where he painted many portraits, mainly pastels, of the two famous irish personalities, such as sean keating, the opera soprano margaret burke sheridan whose portrait is on display at the gaiety theatre. And his portrait of douglas hyde, ireland's first president, hangs in áras an uachtaráin, the president's residence. Some of his pastel portraits were included in the exclusive exhibition of the royal hibernian academy in april 1943 where thomas macgreevy compared his work to early 20th century artists philip de lászló and jean boldini. In 1942, a monograph of his works gaetano de gennaro: pastels and paintings, was published and the following year his works were exhibited in a solo exhibition at the shelbourne hotel. He left ireland for brazil around 1946. The brazilian painter ernesto lia, who is also a pastellist like de gennaro, studies in his studio in sao paulo. He worked there until his death in 1959. His works are kept in many private and public collections.