(1883, Termini, Sicily – 1962, Milwaukee, WI)

One of the most prolific Wisconsin artists, Francesco Spicuzza, was born in Termini, Sicily in 1883. He moved to Milwaukee with his family when he was a child. As a young child, Francesco spent his days helping his father’s fruit peddling business to support his impoverished family. Around 1900, Franscesco’s potential as an artist was noticed by John Cramer, wealthy Milwaukee publisher and editor of the Evening Wisconsin.  Cramer supported young Spicuzza both emotionally and financially, paying for lessons with Robert Schade, a panorama painter.

In his mid-twenties, Spicuzza studied with Alexander Mueller at the Milwaukee Art Students’ League. He then painted in his free time while working as a lithographer until the Panic of 1907, when his employer terminated his employment. With no immediate prospects, Spicuzza’s wife encouraged him to open a studio, which he did from the years of 1908 to 1911. In the summer of 1911, he left Milwaukee to study at the Art Students’ League’s Summer School in Woodstock, New York under John Carlson, an Impressionist. When Spicuzza returned to Milwaukee in the fall, his artwork felt the influence of Impressionist brushwork and idyllic subject matter. Spicuzza began to teach at the Milwaukee Art Institute and the Milwaukee Art Center. By the 1940s, he began to teach housewives and businessmen in his studio.

Spicuzza is known for his Impressionist style depicting still-lifes, portraits, landscapes and beach scenes featuring Milwaukee’s Bradford and McKinley beaches. After he acquired a summer house in West Bend, he added Big Cedar Lake to his repertoire.

Spicuzza has exhibited at the Chicago Art Institute, Milwaukee Art Institute, Museum of Wisconsin Art, and the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. He received metals by both the St. Paul Institute (1913, 1914, and 1915) and the Milwaukee Art Institute (1922).

SOURCES:

Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) Archives: http://www.wisconsinart.org/archives/artist/francesco-jiaconino-spicuzza/profile-161.aspx

Richard H. Love and Michael Preston Worley, Ph.D., “Francesco Spicuzza,” askART, http://www.askart.com/artist_bio/Francesco_J_Spicuzza/29643/Francesco_J_Spicuzza.aspx.