Albert Chiarandini
Exhibition: January - June 2023
Albert (Umberto) Chiarandini was born in Italy, but developed his talent in Canada where he settled in 1932. Canadian landscape captured his imagination from the beginning and he continued to paint it until his death in 2007. His artistic instinct told him that it was the landscape that has given Canada its identity, and the landscape became the object of his penetrating observation.
Analysis of Chiarandini’s untamed broad vistas, no less dramatic then the Group's of Seven visions of the Canadian North, show how deeply he embraced the beauty of his adoptive country. The artist, although trained to paint in classical European style broke away from the old ways and for inspiration looked to Canadian artists, especially Franklin Carmichael and Arthur Lismer. Chiarandini’s landscapes, which owed something to those painters, are some of the most interesting works in the genre produced in Canada.
In addition to his landscape paintings, Chiarandini focused much of his time on portraits and he is considered a master portraitist with a profound understanding for portraying the subtle secrets of the human face. He was the first in Canada who tried to capture in art the faces of the political revolution of the 1960s, and to depict people from all walks of life. Closer look at Chiarandinès portraits reveals not only his fascination with human soul, but also his deep interest in the social changes which were shaping Canada.