Edward Giobbi, 99, renowned Katonah artist and chef

 Edward Giobbi died May 9 of natural causes at his home in Katonah, just two months short of his 100th birthday. According to his daughter, Eugenia, “he was 99.10 and died while napping.” 

An accomplished painter and sculptor, he was also a well regarded chef and the author of four popular cookbooks, including “Italian Family Cooking” and “Italian Family Dining.” He was also a winemaker, gardener, and practitioner of martial arts. Outspoken and irreverent, he loved to tell stories, both verbally and through his works.

He was born to Italian immigrants in Waterbury, Conn., on July 18, 1926. His father was a coal miner in Pennsylvania before moving to Waterbury and becoming a factory worker. His mother ruled the kitchen, and it is her recipes that he gathered in his books, and continued to use.

He was a veteran of World War II.

Trained as an artist in both New York and Florence, Italy, his aesthetic style reflected a dual American and Italian influence. According to Rita Baunok of Chroma Fine Art Gallery in Katonah, which presented a show of his works in 2023, there are references to Medieval and early Renaissance European art and architecture in his works, and he used a Mediterranean palette of sunbaked sienna, umber, and ochre. 

“His colors are gorgeous, so strong and bright,” said Baunok. 

At the time of that show, he spoke of his father being pleased that he wouldn’t have to work in a factory. “He always said, if you go to school, I’ll back you up as much as I can. You study what you want to study. But you have to either work or go to school. If you bum around the house, I’ll throw you out.” 

He said both his parents were very supportive, “no questions asked,” which made him very lucky. “I had friends whose wealthy parents insisted they had to take a job where they made a lot of money,” he said. “And they’d end up doing something they hated to do, but they had money. Big deal! If you’re miserable, what good is money?”

As a student at The Art Students League in New York in the early 1950s, he was nourished and shaped by the New York art scene. Robert Taylor of The Boston Globe positioned him as “among the most compelling painters” in the United States.

In 2011, Hurricane Irene brought a huge tree down on an annex to his Katonah studio, where some of his thousands of paintings were stored. Insurance covered most of the loss, but when the insurance company asked if he wanted them to dispose of the damaged works, he decided instead to cut the canvases into smaller sections, which he then pieced together into collages, recycling pieces of earlier works to tell new stories.

He was the recipient of both a Ford Foundation Grant and a Guggenheim Fellowship. His work is in the collections of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in Florence, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Boston Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., the National Academy of Design, the Tate Gallery in London, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

He was predeceased by his wife, Elinor Turner Giobbi, who died in 2022 after a long illness. Elinor and Edward moved into their house on Croton Lake Road in 1961. They lived in Katonah their entire adult lives, where they raised chickens, rabbits, pigeons, numerous pets including peacocks and ponies, garden vegetables and flowers.

He is survived by children Eugenia Giobbi Bone, Elizabeth Giobbi and Chambliss Giobbi, and five grandchildren, all of whom live in New York City and are involved in the arts.

A private ceremony is planned. In lieu of a public memorial, neighbors and friends are encouraged to visit the Chroma Fine Art Gallery located at 194 Katonah Ave., Katonah, where Giobbi's work will be on exhibit this summer.

— Jeff Morris