Born in Campinas, in the countryside of São Paulo, in 1902, Giuseppe Gianinni Pancetti moved with his family to São Paulo at the age of eight. The following year, he traveled to Italy, where he finished his studies and joined the Italian Merchant Navy at the age of 16. Shortly after returning to Brazil in 1921, he joined the Brazilian Navy. His trade had a great impact on his pictorial poetics, with seascapes being the most recurrent in his production. In this regard, the artist preferred to paint outdoors, which explains the modest size of most of his paintings. In the words of Frederico Morais: “Pancetti's painting is like a ship's deck, tanned by sun and salt. It doesn't rust. Honest, clean, economical, direct, austere, almost dry, even when the color expands and the gesture harbors emotion. There is neither superfluity nor waste”.
Pancetti began painting in a self-taught manner in 1925 and, when he was transferred to Rio de Janeiro in 1933, he began studying at the Núcleo Bernardelli, an open studio. There he met Milton Dacosta, Bustamante Sá and Bruno Lechowski, who influenced his compositional thinking. In 1934, he traveled on the training ship Almirante Saldanha to England, Portugal, Spain and France, where he visited various museums. In the 1930s, the artist took part in salons and exhibitions, entering the artistic circuit of the time. His first solo exhibition took place at the Instituto dos Arquitetos de São Paulo. In 1945, he took part in the Arte del Brasil Moderno exhibition, which toured Buenos Aires, La Plata and Montevideo.
The year he left the Navy, in 1946, he was given two solo exhibitions in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Between 1944 and 1945, Pancetti took part in the Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, which traveled around institutions in the United Kingdom, including the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Also in the international circuit, his inclusion in the first Brazilian delegation to the Venice Biennale in 1950 and his participation in two editions of the Bienal de São Paulo (1951 and 1955) should be highlighted. In 1955, the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro gave him a solo exhibition. His production came to an end with his death in 1958.
Pancetti's work is part of important institutional collections, including the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes – MNBA, Rio de Janeiro; Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo – MAM SP, São Paulo; Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo – MAC USP, São Paulo; Museu da Chácara do Céu – Castro Maya/Ibram, Santa Teresa; Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro – MAM Rio, Rio de Janeiro; Instituto Casa Roberto Marinho, Rio de Janeiro; and The Museum of Modern Art - MoMA, New York.
