Varlin

Quaderni grigionitaliani, Fasciolo speciale Edizione della Pro Grigioni Italiano, Coira, dicembre 2000

2 Bände mit CD-Rom; Verlag Scheidegger und Spiess, Zürich, 2000; beim Verlag erhältlich

In the spring of 1976 a major exhibition of 59 paintings opened at the Municipal Modern Art Gallery in Milan. On 30 October 1977, Varlin died at his home in Bondo, Switzerland. The same day came the news that the city of Florence had given him The Fiorino D'oro award for his lifework in the arts.

In 1961, Varlin was invited to exhibit at Kunsthaus Zürich, his hometown's museum. The artists and The Journal DU dedicated an entire issue to his life and work. Two years later at the age of 63 he married a woman named Franca.

His friend and mentor Zborovskis died in 1932 and two years later, Varlin returned to Switzerland to be with his mother and sister. He rented a house in Venedigli that was due for demolition and had no banisters and little furniture. Here he lived with the painter Leo Leuppi and some sculptors. They lived in relative poverty but held huge parties that were famous throughout the city.

Zborovski rented a studio in la Ruche for Varlin, where he socialised with Archipenko, Soutine, Chagall and Léger, who also had studios there. In 1931 he exhibited at the Galerie Sloden in Faubourg St-Honoré after living briefly in the south of France. The exhibition was a great success and was extended beyond its original run.

In 1930 he was discovered by Polish poet and art dealer Leopold Zborovski, who also discovered Chaïm Soutine and Amedeo Modigliani. Zborovski decided Varlin needed to change his name because Guggenheim had bourgeois connotations and he thought it would put off the more Bohemian parts of Parisian society. The name Varlin was found after the street named Rue Eugène Varlin.

In 1926, his mother retired and he finished his studies. Aware that he needed to earn a living, he got a job as a clerk with Company Risacher in Faubourg Montmartre. He did not last very long; they reportedly said of him "he can’t even sharpen a pencil!" After this he began drawing cartoons for humour magazines like Froufrou and Ric-rac. He also exhibited some of his work at the Salon des Humoristes.

In 1921, at the age of twenty-one, he went to Berlin to study at the Berlin State School of Fine Arts where he was taught by Emil Orlík. Two years later he moved to Paris where he studied at The Académie Julian Art School.

Willy Leopold Guggenheim, known as Varlin (16 March 1900 – 30 October 1977), was a Swiss painter. His figurative work emphasized the fragility of everyday life.