Italians of Brooklyn by Marianna Biazzo Randazzo

Until the mid-1950s, Dossena signed his paintings GDossena (for Giuseppe Dossena), but the signature mutated in E.G.Dossena after that period.Īfter the artist lost his studio in a fire, he moved in 1968 to Brooklyn, New York, and resided at 54 Cheever Place in Carroll Gardens and was employed by Studio the Berger, restoring works by Renoir, Rembrandt, Picasso and other masters, property of museums and private collections, among which stand out the Metropolitan Museum of New York and the Playboy Club. The exhibit at the galleria Hoepli in Milan (1964), and the one at the Palazzo dell’Arredamento, in Desio (1967), also achieved a good response, earning a place on the prestigious Enciclopedia dell’Arte (Edizioni SEDA, Milan).

His first solo exhibit, at the Galleria Gavioli in Milan (1943), was a success with the critics and the public, and all of the paintings were purchased by collectors. His passion for artistic expression allowed him to retain his creative integrity, and he became a sought after impressionist, known for the sensibility of his works as much as for the dynamic strokes which characterized them. His works were also in the Italian Embassy in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, but were destroyed by air raids during WWII. In the residences of Pirelli, Falck, Borletti, Invernizzi, Necchi, Toscanini, Count Cicogna, Duke Gallarati Scotti, and Count Castelbarco, Emilio Giuseppe Dossena decorated, restored and painted large panels with mythological and archaic themes and battles. He therefore earned his livelihood for many years with the restoration and the decoration of villas and castles, in addition to producing frescoes for the local churches. At the Scuola del Castello he won a prize for his sculpture works (a trip to Venice), but his attraction toward color made him choose painting as the medium of artistic communication.Īlthough his tendency toward impressionism was evident from the beginning, the necessity to provide for his family forced him to dedicate only his spare time to this aspect of the arts. He attended the Brera Academy (Milan) and the Scuola del Castello (Milan), where he formed strong friendships with Aligi Sassu, Ernesto Treccani, Guttuso, Domenico Cantatore and Umberto Lilloni.

Emilio Giuseppe Dossena strolling through Maiorca, 1982

Italians of Brooklyn by Marianna Biazzo Randazzo