The exhibition “CONTEMPORANEA: masterpieces from the collections of Parma” has been open to the public since April 20th, in the rooms of the Governor’s Palace, in the heart of the historic center of the city of Parma. Curated by Simona Tosini Pizzetti, organized and produced by Solares Fondazione delle Arti with the support of Destinazione Turistica Emilia, main sponsor IREN, and with the media partnership of Exibart, the exhibition will remain open until 21 July 2024.
On display are 115 works by 93 internationally renowned artists, selected from the heritage of the most prestigious private collections in Parma, to tell the story of one hundred years of contemporary Italian and European artistic expression through paintings, sculptures and rare photographs of performances. These are works from private collections that will be exhibited to the public for the first time, the exhibition will therefore be an unmissable opportunity to see them grouped together in an exceptional exhibition itinerary. The unprecedented and unrepeatable exhibition project will be inserted among the beauties that Parma offers from the Romanesque age, to the Renaissance to the Baroque era and the experiences that it makes available as a UNESCO Creative City for Gastronomy.
Structured in twenty-two sections that follow a chronological progression with alternating focuses on different movements and artists, Contemporanea spans a century of twentieth-century art history, representing the different trends thanks to a rich journey expertly constructed through the works. From Duchamp to Picasso, from Morandi to Casorati passing through De Chirico, Sironi, Burri, Pistoletto and many other great artists, the exhibition is at the same time an exceptional look at the twentieth century and a precious observatory on collecting and the immense cultural heritage that these works represent for the city of Parma and for the entire national culture.
At the Governor’s Palace the exhibition itinerary starts with Gli antecedenti which presents some futurist works and then moves on to Dadaism where the absolute protagonist is Marcel Duchamp, with Fountaine, the porcelain urinal with the signature “R. Mutt”, which shows his desire to burn ties with artistic conventions and traditional aesthetic judgment criteria. We then move on to Surrealism with two rare masterpieces, Le Consolateur by Giorgio De Chirico, recognized among the fathers of the movement, and Sans Titre by Victor Brauner from 1931. We then find the section The great international masters which boasts, among others, a Pablo Picasso Femme sur un fauteuil from 1962, a portrait of his second wife, and Marc Chagall with a late 1980 work Le couple davant le peintre. Also present is the American artist Edward Hopper with his drawing Near Eastham from 1946. The exhibition continues with the important space dedicated to the masters of the Italian twentieth century, among which Giorgio Morandi stands out with La Natura morta from 1948 and, again, Felice Casorati and Filippo De Pisis, Mario Sironi and the Parma artist Atanasio Soldati (1896-1953) who was the leader of Italian geometric abstractionism, and Antonio Ligabue, an interpreter of art very present in Parma collecting. We then move on to the section L’informale Europea and CoBrA with Pierre Alechinsky among others until we come across the room dedicated to L’informale in Italia with Alberto Burri and Giuseppe Capogrossi. A specific section is the in-depth study Between informality and abstract expressionism with works by Conrad Marca-Relli and Georg Baseliz; there is also a look at geometric abstractionism of concretist origin and kinetic art and at Lucio Fontana and spatialism: the artist is represented in the exhibition by Concetto Spaziale and Attese. This is followed by the works of programmed Kinetic Art up to Beyond Spatialism and up to Abstractionism with Fausto Melotti, Piero D’Orazio and Ettore Colla. A separate section is dedicated to Fabio Mauri and Pietro Cascella and then to the Conceptual with Emilio Isgrò. The exhibition itinerary continues with Boetti, Mondino and the East towards L’Arte Povera, among which we find Janis Kounellis and Michelangelo Pistoletto with the Hunger installation of 2007, created and produced by Solares Fondazione delle Arti. Room that precedes those dedicated to Pop Art and Body Art, to continue with the Transavantgarde with works by two of the protagonists Mimmo Paladino and Nicola De Maria, and then, again, I Nuovi Nuovi, and a focus on the artists of Il pastificio Cerere and the San Lorenzo group which concludes the overview of twentieth-century art preserved by the major collectors of Parma.
Alongside the works, the exhibition is completed by screenings of two performances by Fabio Mauri Che cosa è il fascismo. Party in honor of General Ernst Von Hussel passing through Rome, 1971 and Ebrea, 1971.
As part of the exhibition at the Governor’s Palace, and in the rooms where Gina Pane’s ‘Observations’ will be exhibited, a performative iconostasis is planned by the Lenz Foundation entitled Over Gina Pane_4 Sentimental Actions: eight appointments with four new creations by Maria Federica Maestri dedicated to the most extreme figure of the performance-body art movement (info and opening times www.lenzfondazione.it).
The exhibition is accompanied by the catalog published by Dario Cimorelli Editore (24×28 cm, 304 pp., 150 images, 34 Euros).
(Source: Comune.parma.it)
Tags: Contemporary masterpieces collections Parma exhibition
