The View from Treviso
Drawings of Columbus, Indiana
by Guglielmo Botter
Architect, artist, and author Guglielmo Botter exhibited a series of pen and ink drawings at Gallery 506 during November and December of 2017.
The drawings in this show were created following Botter’s two previous visits to Columbus, during which he sketched and photographed a variety of community landmarks, including buildings, landscapes, and many of the interactive installations comprising Exhibit Columbus’ inaugural exhibition.
Artist statement
I am an Italian-American citizen born on June 27th, 1966 in Treviso, Italy.
I began drawing with an ink pen when I was only 5 years old when my father brought home a rapidograph, commonly used by architects at that time, and I never stopped using it.
From the beginning, I drew very quickly and directly using only pen and ink and have never relied on pencil and eraser in my drawings.
My favorite subject was the urban landscape and in a few years I won most of the painting competitions dedicated to children of my age. My first solo exhibit, “Forty Drawings of an Eleven Year Old Boy,” was held in 1977 in Treviso. The critics predicted a successful career, and since then, I have been collaborating with editors and authors on projects. At the age of 13, I realized my most important childhood success when I was ranked first among 350,000 participants at the National Drawing
Competition in Rome for my sketch of Treviso, which became an official stamp of Italian Post (Nov 30, 1980). Later that year, the Municipality of Treviso, in recognition of this success, invited me to exhibit my latest drawings of Treviso alongside those of my great-grandfather, Girolamo Botter, an artist who used the same technique a hundred years before. My family is known in the art field because, for three generations since 1890, Girolamo, Mario, and Memi Botter (my father), saved and restored frescoes in the region of Veneto.
About the biography
of Botter’s mother
Guglielmo Botter’s biography of his mother An American in Treviso, tells of the beautiful painter Lyu, who left the United States to marry Memi Botter. The biography, dedicated to his mother and the complex history of her Corsican genius, is marked by poverty, emigration, and episodes of courage and tenacity, perseverance, patience, and courage to change their destiny, at the expense of emigrating again. With his book, Botter recalls the many sacrifices born of the “maternal” ancestors, to recognize the great courage with which they have met the hard tests of life, from generation to generation, and to tell their beautiful American adventure.
The beautiful Lyù, painter, theater actress, parachutist, hostess, and pilot left an indelible memory in those who had the chance to cross her path. For her husband, she agreed to “return to the Middle Ages” to take on the role of wife and mother in a world that was unable to accept and value her disruptive personality and transformed into the most classical Italian housewife.