signed and dated upper left
Note: This work is illustrated on page 143 of “Ciccimarra: A Biography” (Frank Nowosad; Fuller Technical Publishing; 1988). A copy of the book accompanies the painting.
Richard Ciccimarra was born in 1924 in Vienna, Austria and immigrated to Victoria, British Columbia in the early 1950s. Ciccimarra was a largely self-taught artist, and in Victoria, as a young adult, he quickly became involved in the local art scene. In 1971, he became one of the founding members of the Limners: a group of mainly ex-patriate artists in the Victoria art scene that also included Herbert Siebner, Maxwell Bates, Myfawny Pavelic and Robin Skelton, among others.
Ciccimarra’s work is known for its melancholic nature, and his practice is often compared to that of fellow Austrian artist Egon Schiele. With pale, ghost like figures set against hollow, dark spaces, Ciccimarra established a haunting sense of ennui in his work. The work “evensong”, the title of this painting, comes from Old English, and refers to an evening worship or church service; with this title, Ciccimarra adds a layer of context to the somber gathering of the two figures in the dark.
