So last month I covered Lucio Fontana at Fondazione Magnani Rocca near Parma
but staying with the venue I wanted to focus on the wider enterprise and its rather extraordinary collection of art and its curatorial history
the Foundation itself was founded in 1977 at the Villa dei Capolavori (Villa of Masterpieces) in the frazione of Mamiano di Traversetolo
The Villa houses works by a diverse range of notables including Gentile da Fabriano
Van Dyck and later modernist figures such as Monet
The collection boasts over fifty works by the Bolognese still life guru Giorgio Morandi
along with stunning sculptures by Canova and Bartolini
big name temporary shows in its varied and airy spaces
all of which have a decidedly more contemporary feel
The foundation was based on the villa and collection of its founder and benefactor Luigi Magnani (1906-84)
The collection and the discerning eye of the collector are evident throughout
there are some choice works in the exquisitely decorated palazzo
As if one couldn’t be impressed by the extraordinary
near blinding detail of Durer’s engravings
I was left reeling by the glut of Morandi’s and legendary vision of De Chirico and Cezanne
The single drawback of this fabulous collection is the complete absence of diversity in the present and the past
I say this mindful that most of the interns and staff of the venue appeared to be female
which only served to accentuate the fact that this collection
seems frozen in a more patriarchal and 'whiter'
he was a benefactor and social philanthropist with impeccable intentions and an equally informed eye
but perhaps there is a need to raise questions about the status and profile of the temporary exhibitions programme
and more divergent dialogues with the permanent collection
over the past 20 years the temporary exhibitions programme has featured: Sutherland (2012)
Not a female or black artist or designer in sight
Now I appreciate the mission of the foundation and the fact that it is an absolutely incredible cultural oasis of huge historical importance and value within the region
It has absolutely my full support as a punter
but wouldn’t it be amazing to interrogate the collection through the lens not only of female curators (which they do have)
but also to enable a reflection on the time of the collection and its evolving relationship to history and the contemporary
This is surely a way to keep the collection alive
relevant and vital as the potential audiences for art history continue to diminish globally
I also find it hard to believe that it is not within the financial or curatorial orbit of the museum to problematise the narratives around its own collection
I mean look at the life(style) and work of Morandi
which was only sustained by the sacrifice and care of his sisters
how about the relationship between more contemporary forms of the surreal in terms of conceptual games design
What if a diverse range artists/students from Milan or Parma or La Sapienza (Rome) or L’Aquila were invited to create works to intervene in the well-rehearsed narratives of the collection
It’s all curatorially up for grabs really and what’s to lose
but of course such ventures are not without risk; reputational and insurance notwithstanding
the peacocks and the unique sense of history and legacy (plus a great restaurant)
but I fear that the survival and future attendance revenues may wither on the vine without the elixir of change
found that an exhibition of games design and interactivity blew the roof off the gallery attendance numbers and reached out to entirely new audiences for the arts
What if Magnani Rocca allowed more interactive content
The absence of diversity won’t stop me coming back
and even as such I might feel fearful or disappointed
superb curatorial/art historical scholarship
I would love to see a POC/LGBTQ+ take on the whole gig
CONTEMPORARY ART MAGAZINE SINCE 1980 More...
There are many international initiatives organized in 2024 to celebrate the centenary of Surrealism
starting with the big traveling retrospective that will be in Brussels
the state of avant-garde studies has been investigated by numerous specialist events and conferences
but only the Magnani-Rocca Foundation hosted a dense retrospective exhibition with a historical view
opening some long-debated critical aspects to the general public
exhibition view at Fondazione Magnani-Rocca
Il Surrealismo e l’Italia [Surrealism and Italy] collects more than 150 works mostly coming from public museums and private foundations based in Italy
trying to convey the complexity of the relationship between our country and one of the most long-lived movements from the twentieth century
chronologically covering from the 1920s to the end of the 1960s
An approach that not only exalts the artists who have rethought the Surrealist lesson
but points out aspects often considered secondary
such as collecting and editorial productions
which on the contrary provide a clear image of the penetration
Aspects implemented and thoroughly explored also by the catalog that accompanies the exhibition which constitutes a very up-to-date report on the configuration and specificity of the avant-garde in its Italian variation
proceeds through the presentation of the many international artists who participated in Surrealism (from Magritte to Dalí
with attention to represent the great catalog of possibilities of expression and media connected to the avant-garde
such as painting (figurative and abstract)
it is clarified that in the context of the international diffusion of the movement
given the ostracism of Fascism which hindered its reception
while dispelling the opinion that there was a poor knowledge of surrealist art and literature
the following rooms host some examples from the most important Italian collections
to the one of the gallerist and critic Arturo Schwarz; from Lucien Bilinelli’s collection characterized by many works of the Belgian current of the movement; to the one of the entrepreneur/collector Enrico Lucci (subsequently donated to the Museum of the Biella Territory) from which comes one of the most valuable pieces on display
In this section it stands out for its themes and complexity the room dedicated to the collections of Enrico Baj and Antonio Passarè
not only the author of a personal reworking of Surrealism
was also an important collector capable of once again placing Dadaism and the Bretonnian avant-garde in dialogue; while the collection of the Milanese doctor proposed a short circuit between ethnographic objects and works by E.L.T
The last room outlines the contours of an Italian reception of the movement
identifying two declinations: on the one hand the “Italian Surrealists” as defined by the first 1946 issue of the magazine “View”
fantastic and neo-romantic trend; on the other tracing the vital presence of Surrealism in the poetics of the Informal and neo-avant-garde that characterize the reconstruction moment of the post-war Italian artistic identity
between lacerating ideological conflicts and audacious explorations
perhaps too small to collect all the different declinations of the avant-garde influence
the insights dedicated to the artists Leonor Fini and Bona Tibertelli De Pisis De Mandiargues certainly stand out
thanks to works populated with metamorphic and fairy-tale figures
exploring a vision of the feminine as intriguing and current as ever
Serena Trinchero is a scholar and professor of contemporary art history at IPH – International Programme in Humanities of the Pisa University
educational and residency projects between performing and visual art
collaborating with various institutions at a national level
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Juliet art magazine è pubblicata a cura dell’Associazione Juliet - direttore responsabile Alessio Curto autorizzazione del Tribunale di Trieste
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forging the minds of the De Chirico brothers in their formative and early years
will result in one of the most original and highest moments of twentieth-century Italian figurative culture.Despite their common intellectual path
De Chirico and Savinio demonstrated different characters and approaches to artistic practice from a young age
and only came to painting at the age of thirty-five
with a more decisive and granitic personality
identified his path in painting from his adolescence
While the works of both are characterized by themes of common interest such as travel
the interpretations that the two brothers provide are not the same
often arriving at results that are stylistically and iconographically distant
will not renounce representations still imbued with enigmas
which will characterize his landscapes that recall the myths of antiquity
horses among the ruins of Greek civilization
are the hinges around which Alberto Savinio’s aesthetics revolve
Savinio demonstrates an innate ability to inject into the profound metaphysical silences the skillful lightness of irony
which unfolds through a fantastical visionariness
inanimate objects and animate beings come together in a single colorful and lively representation
in which human and animal forms are confused and decontextualized
placed within impossible perspectives and an atmosphere as improbable as it is playful.The contributions in the catalog focus on the brothers’ approach to their sources (Nicol Mocchi)
as well as their respective paths in the various artistic disciplines in which they have engaged: painting (Alice Ensabella)
but also the artist’s book and theater (Mauro Carrera)
As the inspirational motifs of the construction of the aforementioned modern mythology are at the heart of this project
two contributions in the catalog focus on more specific aspects of Savinian (Gerd Roos) and dechirican (Daniela Ferrari) iconography.The exhibition opens daily
Hours: Tuesday through Friday continuous 10am-6pm (box office closes at 5pm)
Sunday and holidays continuous 10am-7pm (box office closes at 6pm)
Admission: € 12.00 also valid for permanent collections - € 10.00 for groups of at least twenty people - € 5.00 for schools
0521 848327 / 848148 info@magnanirocca.it www.magnanirocca.it On Saturdays at 4:30 p.m
tour of the exhibition with a specialized guide; reservations can be made by e-mail to segreteria@magnanirocca.it
or show up at the museum entrance while places last; cost € 17.00 (admission and guide).Image: Alberto Savinio
Tombeau d’un roi maure (1929; oil on canvas)
In the midst of the glorious countryside of Emilia-Romagna stands a well-signposted but rather enigmatic compendium of buildings that comprises the physical accommodation for the Magnani Rocca Foundation
The Foundation has accommodated some serious temporary exhibitions in the past
I had always been seduced away by the stellar art attractions of the Venice Biennale
I have been kind of driving past Magnani Rocca for the past 5 years with a sense of
The prospect of 50 works on show at the foundation by Luciano Fontana finally proved to be the magnet strong enough to draw me in
my expectations were exceeded on every count
Once one gets past the rather grim car park
I was serenaded into the villa itself by a number of shrieking pavoni (peacocks)
which was both sweet and unnerving on the ears
At the risk of teaching nonna to suck eggs
the Italian-Argentinian artist Fontana was one of the founding fathers of Spatialism (Spazialismo) whose post-war manifestoes (1947-53) professed that:
colour and sound in motion are the phenomena whose simultaneous development makes up the new art
Fontana had a life and history far too long and eventful to narrate here
suffice to say that he was involved with the physical and artistic rehabilitation of post-war Italy
He worked with art schools in Italy (Brera
La Sapienza) and Argentina (The Altamira Academy)
and was one of the moving parts of a generation of artists that were desperately seeking to create new versions of themselves out of the legacy of rubble created by both the allies and the fascists
it is spectacular and I felt I came away with a genuine insight into the time
I feel like I am writing this rather backwards
but the reason is that the words do not invite one to attach language or narrative in ways to which we have become accustomed
If one takes the output as a starting point rather than the intent
the works are sumptuous in their materiality
exquisite in form and precise in execution
But it doesn’t end there - one cannot divorce the works from the image of the artist in the process of creation; works are stabbed
rent asunder and pierced with what must have been a heady combination of visceral violence and select punctuation
each work records and implicates the artists actions for posterity in ways that are perhaps unique to Fontana
I have simply never felt like this about any other work I have seen
I think I have come to expect that the art will deliver a vision and version of reality that one can narrate or decipher with a more-or-less post-modern or deductive diagnostic
his works tell you loudly at the point of contact exactly what has happened
they are direct testimony to the presence of the artist and what he has done
and because of this I found myself completely occupied by the vision of the interaction of Fontana and the material in front of him
one finds oneself vicariously re-enacting and re-imagining the cause and effect required to create the work
I know that lots of brilliant art historians have accounted for Fontana’s ‘eggs’
and the idea that destruction can be an act of creativity1
but standing with the work is a truly (meta)physical as well as intellectual process; a process in which one gets transported back in time through the portal of the work to the moment in the artist’s studio
and the point in the artist’s process that literally marked time
Seeing the works in this show re-awakened in me a sense of optimism for making that I thought I had lost
Fontana at Magnani Rocca is a timely reminder that art is not only an end but also a means that can invite
intrigue and engage in ways that pure spectacle cannot
but Fontana’s work allows us to testify as well as spectate
The works were kindly lent by the Lucio Fontana Foundation and the curatorial team at Magnani Rocca has done a splendid job or selecting
If your travels take you near Milan or Parma or Venice
1 Fontana also attended the "Destruction Art
Destroy to Create" demonstration at the Finch College Museum of New York (1968)
changing the perception of the world forever
“Imagination is nothing but the revelation of what we are
freedom,” wrote André Breton in his Manifeste du Surréalisme
officially marking the start of this revolutionary movement.Thus
the Magnani-Rocca Foundation in Mamiano di Traversetolo
will celebrate this decisive and long-lived avant-garde of the 20th century with the major exhibition Surrealism and Italy
The exhibition will take place in the evocative Villa dei Capolavori
just a few steps from the rooms that house works by masters such as Renoir
the exhibition will feature more than 150 works by icons of Surrealism such as Salvador Dalí
Giorgio de Chirico and his brother Alberto Savinio
and other protagonists of this imaginative current
The exhibition will witness the vastness of Surrealism’s media and languages
exploring its impact and evolution in Italy
The exhibition is divided into two major chapters
The first chapter presents international Surrealism and its arrival in Italy
initially mediated by the work of de Chirico and Savinio
and later represented through the works of the masters of the historical movement
These works highlight a profound aesthetic and formal heterogeneity
The second chapter identifies the protagonists of the Italian Surrealist scene
examining their connections with the French group and highlighting their independence and originality
Two main trends in Italy are outlined: the emergence of a group inspired by new artistic practices
represented by artists such as Sergio Dangelo and Enrico Baj
characterized by visionary works by artists such as Leonor Fini
who were deeply influenced by de Chirico and Savinio
The exhibition devotes special attention to the spread of Surrealism in Italy
highlighting the gallerists and collectors who were its main originators
and collectors such as Peggy Guggenheim and Passaré played a crucial role in promoting and supporting the movement
The Magnani-Rocca Foundation invites the public to embark on this fascinating journey to discover how the Surrealist movement liberated the unconscious and transformed the perception of reality
Exhibition hours: Tuesday through Friday continuous 10am-6pm (box office closes at 5pm) - Saturday
Admission: € 15 also valid for Permanent Collections, Renoir focus exhibition and Romantic Park - € 13 for groups of at least fifteen - € 5 for schools and under fourteen. The ticket also includes a free visit to the Villa’s Secret Cabinets. For less than fifteen people, reservations are not necessary; tickets are purchased upon arrival at the Foundation. For information: www.magnanirocca.it
Exhibition and catalog edited by Alice Ensabella of Université Grenoble Alpes
Alessandro Nigro of University of Florence
Stefano Roffi scientific director of the Magnani-Rocca Foundation
Catalog (Dario Cimorelli Editore) with essays by the curators and by Silvana Annicchiarico
by Elisa Mazzini /// September 6
The term “contemporary art” refers to the set of artistic trends that arose in the period after the Second World War
through an enormous freedom of expression and use of different means
If you are passionate about contemporary art
The Study Center and Communication Archive (CSAC) is a research center of the University of Parma, located in the Abbey of Valserena (known as the Charterhouse of Parma of Stendhal)
The center is aimed at creating a collection of fine art
fashion and graphics from the 1900s and beyond
The CSAC hosts temporary exhibitions and a large archive
The Magnani-Rocca Foundation is located in the Villa dei Capolavori of Mamiano di Traversetolo
Here is hosted the collection created by the musicologist and art critic Luigi Magnani
European and American artists among the most representatives of the twentieth century (Monet
as well as a large number of paintings by Giorgio Morandi
Alongside the permanent collection
exhibitions and retrospectives dedicated to 20th century art are frequently organized
The Maramotti Collection offers a real journey into the contemporary Italian and International art
thanks to the works collected over the years by Achille Maramotti
father of the famous fashion house Max Mara and great art lover
The museum is located just outside the historic center of Reggio Emilia
in the former Max Mara factory converted into exhibition space
The ground floor hosts the temporary exhibitions
while on the two upper floors there’s the permanent collection
which has about 200 of more than 500 works owned by the Maramotti family
Fondazione Fotografia Modena is an exhibition and training center entirely dedicated to contemporary photography and images
Its primary objective is to deep the fundamental role that images assume within the current culture
Launched in 2007 as a cultural project of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena
from September 2017 its exhibition activity is hosted in the premises of MATA
raised in the former Manifattura Tabacchi of Modena
Active since 1959, the Civic Gallery of Modena is one of the most authoritative centers on the national contemporary art scene
In its prestigious venues it organizes temporary exhibitions dedicated to photography and contemporary art
as well as conserving and enhancing some important permanent collections
The Collection of contemporary design consists of over 4000 works belonging to the most famous Italian artists of the 20th Century (among which we can cite De Pisis
Morandi and Fontana) and the Collection of photography
initially constituted thanks to the fund donated by Franco Fontana and which today consists of more than 3800 photographs of the greatest contemporary international photographers
the Civic Gallery has also obtained from the Archiepiscopal Curia of Modena the Don Bettelli Collection
which focuses mainly on the international graphics of the second half of the 20th century
The Bertozzi & Casoni Museum is the first permanent exhibition of contemporary art dedicated to ceramics, housed in the hall on the ground floor of the Cavallerizza Ducale di Sassuolo
a recently recovered space located a few steps from the majestic Ducal Palace
On display the works created by two internationally renowned artists
Giampaolo Bertozzi and Stefano Dal Monte Casoni
who see ceramics as a possibility for a painted sculpture and
between compositional surrealism and formal hyperrealism
investigate the waste of contemporary society
The MAMbo – Museum of Modern Art of Bologna traces the history of Italian art from the Second World War until today and is located in the heart of the Manifattura delle Arti
The history of the Museum is inextricably linked to the Gallery of Modern Art of Bologna
institution to which MAMbo owes its origins and on which its continuous cultural research is based on
In addition to the remarkable permanent collection, which currently consists of nine thematic areas, the Museum proposes temporary exhibitions of unmissable importance
The MAST (also acronym of Manifattura di Arti
Sperimentazione e Tecnologia) is an exhibition space built on an abandoned industrial area right next to the historic Bologna’s factory GD
The aim of this spectacular cultural center is to highlight the evolutionary processes that affected the world of work and the concept of entrepreneurship with the coming of the new technologies
through a path full of devices and multimedia tools
The space consists of an interactive area of experimentation and play, and an area that hosts periodic exhibitions of industrial photography, including the Biennial of Photography on Industry and Work FotoIndustria
The Carlo Zauli Museum in Faenza is a cultural center that since 2002 has explored and spread contemporary art in all its languages
The museum is located in the historic center of this little city of Romagna, inside the spaces owned by the master Carlo Zauli
one of the most representative sculptors of the 20th Century
In its spaces it houses two permanent collections: one is dedicated to Carlo Zauli
the other one is composed of the works of contemporary artists
The Carlo Zauli Archive
If you know other contemporary museums in Emilia-Romagna
Social Media Manager for @inEmiliaRomagna and full-time mom
by Elisa Mazzini /// June 7
by Elisa Mazzini /// June 20
by Davide Marino /// October 30
an email (in Italian) with selected contents and upcoming events
For information, contact us: inemiliaromagna@aptservizi.com
A dramatic accident involving a scooter and a car
A serious road accident shook the community of Traversetolo
a scooter and a car collided in a violent impact
The young woman who was traveling on the moped
leaving a deep sorrow among family and friends
reaching the scene of the accident in a few minutes
there was nothing that could be done for the young woman
The news of her death hit the local community hard
which is rallying around the family in this moment of great pain
The causes of the accident are currently being investigated by the competent authorities
The Carabinieri and Local Police are conducting an in-depth investigation to clarify the dynamics that led to this tragic event
and it is not the first time that accidents have occurred in that area
and this episode reignites the debate on the need for interventions to improve traffic and prevent similar tragedies in the future
Notizie.it is a newspaper registered with the Court of Milan n.68 on 01/03/2018
Impara come descrivere lo scopo dell'immagine (si apre in una nuova scheda)
Lascia vuoto se l'immagine è puramente decorativa
a 22-year-old woman from Vignale di Traversetolo
has been accused of killing her two newborn children within a year of each other
the Carabinieri have taken precautionary measures against her
Following the accusation leveled against Chiara
the 22-year-old woman presumed responsible for the killing of her two newborn children
which occurred within a year of each other in her home in Vignale di Traversetolo
the Carabinieri have adopted a precautionary measure against her