Ugo Tesoriere was an artist who ​took a leap of faith and traveled​ far to follow his dream.​​
Tesoriere was Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1923 to Sicilian immigrant parents. He graduated from New York University Medical School and practiced medicine in New York City for several years. As a young doctor in his thirties, Tesoriere fell in love with art. Although an inspired collector of the work of Giacomo Manzu, Edgar Degas, and Giorgio Morandi, Tesoriere had never seen himself as an artist. Therefore, his courageous decision to abandon his successful medical practice and move to Italy in the late 1950s to become an artist was metamorphic. ​
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Ugo Tesoriere arrived in Rome on February 21, 1959. It was here that he met Valeria Giannini. Classically educated and the daughter of an Italian diplomat, she was ideally positioned to assist Tesoriere as he began his artistic career. Under her tutelage he enrolled in the Accademia di Belle Arti, and experienced the great art of Europe. She became his mentor, his muse, and eventually his wife. Tesoriere painted for almost 40 years, steadfastly supported and guided by Valeria.
Despite major exhibitions of his work at the Schneider Gallery and at the prestigious Palazzo Braschi in Rome, at the Dante Alighieri Society in Rome and in Berlin, and during the Festival in Spoleto, Italy, Ugo Tesoriere never received the recognition he deserved as an artist. Like many artists, Tesoriere's work needed the perspective of time to be appreciated. Indeed, the commercialism of the art world held no interest for him. It was easy for him to resist attempts to commercialize his work because of his intense devotion to the aesthetic and spiritual value of art. He may have had this in mind when he once commented "Stylization, let's not forget, can bring fame and fortune. This is especially known in the States." Andy Warhol's soup cans, Frank Stella's stripes and Roy Lichtenstein's exploded comics did not excite him.
Tesoriere's quest was for what he called "real art." For him, this always meant truth, particularly in regard to portraiture, his strongest vehicle of expression. He painted the people around him, from diplomats to doormen. As he looked intensely at his subjects, he had the uncanny ability to see beyond the facade. He perceived the light in their souls, comprehended, and then unveiled their personalities on canvas for all to see.
It has been suggested that Tesoriere's work can be compared to that of Alice Neel and Lucien Freud. Although all three of these artists psychologically penetrated their subjects, Tesoriere's eye was more inclined to see the spirituality of his sitters, while the images Neel and Freud portray tend toward the carnal or profane. Each of these artists employed functional distortion in their portrayal of people. In Neel and Freud's work, the results are sometimes disturbing. In contrast, the distortion in Tesoriere’s paintings often works to endear the subjects to us.
Although portraiture represents a significant portion of Tesoriere's work, he also painted many landscapes and still lifes during his 44 year career. The landscapes, done on location during his visits to the Roman countryside, reflect the observations of his discerning eye as they urge us into the image, longing for a picnic basket and a bottle of Tuscan wine. Tesoriere also observed the simple objects in his studio, capturing their essence in numerous still life paintings and drawings.
The influence of the Bolognese painter, Giorgio Morandi, is undeniable. An early collector of Morandi's work, Tesoriere appreciated and emulated Morandi's emphasis on the simplicity of form and the contemplative dimension he recognized in everyday objects.
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Tesoriere's importance as an artist is found in his ability to glean from those who came before him, assimilate what he observed, and reach his own conclusions as he addressed questions of space, light, form and plasticity.
A voracious reader, Tesoriere haunted libraries and museums discovering and absorbing the work of his predecessors. He learned from many, yet his work is very much his own. His work is a direct manifestation of his daily study, his integration of disparate visions, and his search for beauty and truth. For Tesoriere, it was more about the journey and discovery than the final product. An artist's work is
successful when it demonstrates, in a way understandable to others, the landmarks of that artistic odyssey.
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Tesoriere's paintings are milestones along his artistic and personal pilgrimage. We see his discoveries in the countenance of his sitters, the light and atmosphere of his land and seascapes, and in the simplicity of the objects he captured on canvas and paper. No matter what his subject, the face of a friend, trees in a field, or a small glass jar, Tesoriere saw through the surface into the spirit. The beauty and truth he perceived in his subjects is evident in each of his paintings. As we respond to the beauty in these paintings, we are also responding to the truths Tesoriere discovered, which, through his art, he made an integral part of his own spiritual life.
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An important travel companion on Tesoriere's journey was a young Trappist monk named Francis Kline. After graduating The Juilliard School in NYC, Kline enjoyed a brief but brilliant career as an organist before entering the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. Ugo and Valeria Tesoriere "adopted" Brother Francis when he was studying for the priesthood in Rome in the early 1980s. He became a son to them. Yet for Tesoriere, Francis was also a fellow artist with whom he could discuss his work, as well as literature, philosophy and theology. Their friendship grew and remained strong through the years, despite time and distance.
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In a simple handwritten "testimonio" discovered at the time of his death, Tesoriere left his life's work to Francis Kline. Then Abbot of Mepkin Abbey, near Charleston, South Carolina. Father Francis accepted this gift ~ not for himself, but for his monastic community. Because of Abbot Francis's deep appreciation of Tesoriere’s work, and because monasteries have long been the vigilant guardians of art and literature, Tesoriere’s decision to leave his artistic legacy with Mepkin
Abbey was inspired.
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Years later, after the premature death of Father Francis due to cancer, the current administration of Mepkin Abbey made the decision to turn the Collection of Tesoriere's work over to Mt. Angel Abbey in Oregon to be cared for. The Abbot of Mt. Angel is Father Jeremy Driscoll, who was a close friend of both Father Francis and the Tesorieres during the time they spent in Rome in the 1970s.