Contemporary Italian Art, Emilio Contini and Paolo Rizzi.
La Ginestra Publishing House – Florence 1988.
Testo critico di Giovanni Nocentini.

MICHELANGELO PERGHEM GELMI.

This artist comes to us with the credentials of a true portrait painter. Nevertheless, to state this of Michelangelo would be a little diminishing, if we intend the term “portrait” as a pure and simple reproduction of the human body, that is an image which carries some resemblance with the body. We may well state that this artist infuses the external human features with what the Latins used to call the “animus” (“soul”). What does this mean? The artist must see (indeed he does see) the core within the human figure. In fact, if we take a closer look at “Fantin Latur suggested I go to Atelier della Portela”, reproduced here, we can observe the varied expressions of the figures, sometimes solitary: the distracted look of Vamer, the more attentive one of another character, the almost ironical look of Graziadei and Wolf and finally the absorbed one of Pevarello, most likely the inspiring model of the painter, whose work intensity “floods itself with light of the immense”, citing the poet Giuseppe Ungaretti.
What can we say about the other oil painting “His Eminence the Archibishop Alessandro M. Gottardi, shows the restored Magno Palazzo to Bernardo Clesio”? Here you can see a representation (and not simply the portraits) of political figures and dignitaries, strongly linked to the place and the type of event that they are attending. The artist investigates the deep folds of each character’s soul and we can detect a juxtaposition between the solemn faces of the Archibishop and Bernardo Clesio, attired in the traditional velvet robes, and the faces of the politician Piccoli and his entourage, who are beaming with intimate joy as they proudly attend an unforgettable occasion.
Getting back to Perghem Gelmi’s art, we can say that he is an accomplished painter, in the sense that “he can draw well, using almost impetuous colours”. His works are infused with a transparent glow, almost a remote light which seems to burn down every material weight and stays in the air like luminous pollen. This is a light that dies out in soft shades, which we feel infused with soft sparkles and scents.
In short, this is an evocative painter with a human sensitivity able to convey strong poetic feelings.

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