Back in March, we told you about a portrait that New York Medical College (NYMC) in Valhalla had received of its most prominent founder — poet, editor, and abolitionist William Cullen Bryant. Now, NYMC is the recipient of Strolling Through Tibbetts Park in Yonkers, an abstract mixed-media canvas from the 1980s by Yonkers-based artist Biagio “Gino” Civale.
Coming of age in Italy during World War II, Civale attended art academies in Rome, Florence, Paris, and Sardinia, as well as New York University and Purchase College. His works appear in colleges, libraries, galleries, and exhibitions worldwide.
“I have so much artwork in various public buildings around Westchester — hospitals, social centers, and senior centers — that I was happy to share,” he said in an email interview. “I overheard in a conversation that the medical college did not have any artwork on its walls, so I decided to be proactive. Thanks to Westfair publisher and NYMC board member Dee DelBello, it was easily arranged.”
“I am happy to have donated it and hope that the students will derive some pleasure from it.”
Civale’s wartime experience led him to witness “some atrocious scenes while I was quite young.” Many of his works have captured the suffering of others in world events — from refugee children during the Vietnam War era to, more recently, the bloodshed in Ukraine (both depicted here).
“I feel that we should all be thinking about freedom being attacked,” Civale said.
For more, visit civale.org and nymc.edu. Also, check out our story on New York Medical College’s June 26 golf tournament and brunch at St. Andrew’s Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson,
