Jojo Capece

Jojo Capece (full name Marie Josette Capece Minutolo, born September 3, 1941 in New York City) is an author, sculptor and painter.

Biography

Capece was born in Manhattan, the second daughter of three, to attorney, Joseph Capece Minutolo, and Rose D'Andrea, daughter of Mark D'Andrea, bespoke tailors of D'Andrea Brothers, Rockefeller Center. Because of this grandfather, she was introduced to art and his illustrator, Gruau's work at an early age. He encouraged her to observe beauty and her love of art was due to him and his introduction to modern art when Giacometti had his first show in New York. Her father encouraged her literary life and together these men, and her paternal grandfather, a concert pianist, gave her a love of culture and music, paving the way for future pursuits. Her initial wish to be an actress was forbidden by her mother and she turned her attention to study art at Parsons School of Design. There, she was introduced to studying anatomy and made to work from recollections of the model's immediate movements. This set the tone for her later work (both artistic and literary) as the intense exercises to evaluate a person within minutes was required by professors.

Discouraged by her parents to develop an art career, she studied at New York University, then joined Condé Nast's GLAMOUR magazine,.[1] From there, doyen of fashion publicity, Eleanor Lambert, schooled her in public relations with a stint working with television that led to a position as Public Relations Director of Faberge.

In 1967, Capece married and moved to Istanbul, Turkey, living in Istinye overlooking the Bosporus, with her husband, Willard Douglas Campbell, Jr., an Air Force officer.[2] For three years, she learned the Turkish language and worked with disadvantaged girls from Anatolia. In Istanbul, after a severe automobile accident that left her in hospital two months, her wish to be an actress was fulfilled playing the lead in Shisgal's play, "The Typists," at the Mobile Oil Theater and her artistic life began to return on the restoration committee for Topkapi Palace and experimenting with techniques in metal from the Hittite period for sculpture. She brought her piano to Istanbul entertaining friends at home playing American jazz.

Upon returning to America, she lived in Washington, D.C. where she gave birth to three children, accepting commissions for paintings and works on paper from the Cafritz family, Colonel Eugene Myers, (former director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art) and Joe Hirshhorn of the Hirshhorn Museum. Her life was intertwined with the first Regan Administration. In 1984 Capece began her PR company, Mary Jo Campbell Ltd. Two years later, she divorced, opened a branch office on Bond Street, London, and moved to Chelsea with her children where they were educated at Harrow, RADA and University of St Andrews respectively. By 1990, living in the Cotswolds, she began to devote time to writing and art, terminating business pursuits.

The inspiration of Italy: The magnetism of her Italian roots brought her to live in the historic center of Rome for a dozen years and renew artistic goals, setting the tone for her first book, ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME.[3] At this time, having transported her piano to Rome, Italians loved to hear American music and she became a part of "Evenings with Gershwin," at a theatre on via Veneto where she had a three-piece combo. Artistically, she studied with Giovanni Paganin, the futurist sculptor in Milan, Professor Domenico Annichiarico, Academia di Belle Arti, Carrara, and Maestro Massoni in Rome during the course of her initial Italian years.

Schooled traditionally, learning the craft from experts, all work was approached in clay with mythological and allegorical figures that always showed emotion. Capece contributed this to training at Parsons and Italian life that brought unhurried time to observe and create. The light of Rome, architecture and populace also brought paintings inspired by the Eternal City. At her atelier in centro storico, she developed figurative collections of sculpture utilizing the foundry, Cavallari, whose artists included Cy Twombly, Mansuiti, the foundry for the Vatican, and in Pietrasanta, the del Chiaro foundry for lost wax casting into bronze. Her work in marble was accomplished in Rome, stones from Carrara, Tuscany, and Portugal are a part of her oeuvre. Daniel Besseiche Gallery in France and Higgonet in Venice represented Capece's work and exhibited her sculpture. Keeping a foothold in London for commissions and through the Chelsea Arts Club, London, Capece was a guest artist for life drawing sessions at the Royal Academy of Arts.

Personal life

In 1992, in Rome, Capece was introduced to author Carlo Cristiano Delforno. He encouraged Capece's writing and sculpture for several years until his death. This romantic interest had a profound influence on her sculpture best described in the novel, ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME. In 1998, while in London, Capece was introduced to Anthony Shaffer, the playwright, separated from his wife who lived abroad. This serious relationship for several years brought Capece to return and live in London while Shaffer filed for divorce. His sudden death changed Capece's life dramatically. While in legal proceedings after his death, Heatherley School of Fine Art, London, offered Capece the chance to study towards a master's diploma in art, which she did while at the same time writing DEATH OF A PLAYWRIGHT, detailing the complexities faced that eventually brought Capece to return to America in December 2007 where her children resided.

Choosing San Francisco because it reminded her of the Riviera, Capece re-met widower, the Honorable Edgar dePue Osgood, Founding Chairman of the Human Rights Commission, WWII Officer, Chevalier Légion d'honneur and Honorary Consul General. Both, conversant in several languages, brought instant rapport. Within eight months, Mayor Gavin Newsom married the couple at City Hall with a religious ceremony following at Chelsea Old Church, London. Osgood has fostered her artistic endeavors both literary and artistic. Over the next years, Capece published three books, she became a Grandmother and concentrates on painting and sculpture commissions.[4]

Literary Work

Publications and Appearances:

References

  1. ↑ Watts, Merritt. First Jobs. Picador, 2015.
  2. ↑ New York Times, May 28, 1967
  3. ↑ Nova Southeastern University's Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale
  4. ↑ Watts, Merritt. First Jobs. Picador, 2015.
  5. ↑ The Omnivore, "Forever 50," July 24, 2014
  6. ↑ Fox Television News, August 20, 2013
  7. ↑ The Commonwealth Club of California, 2012, 2013
  8. ↑ Instituto di Cultura di Italia, San Francisco, 2014
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.