“Esplorando Cantiere del ‘900” gets underway

A cycle of meetings designed to examine the works and the artists of Cantiere del ‘900 as part of the Intesa Sanpaolo Progetto Cultura

The series of free meetings organised by Francesco Tedeschi will involve artists such as Sergio Dangelo, Vittorio Matino, Claudio Olivieri and Emilio Isgrò.
Conversations with art historians and critics Renato Barilli, Luciano Caramel, Enrico Crispolti.
Giorgio Ferretti’s description of the birth of the Banca Commerciale Italiana collection

Thursday 31 January will see the launch of “Esplorando Cantiere del ‘900”, a series of meetings with artists, art critics and collectors promoted by the Intesa Sanpaolo Progetto Cultura and dedicated to the 20th century works on display at Cantiere del ‘900 at the Intesa Sanpaolo Gallerie d’Italia - Piazza Scala museum.
The first exhibition dedicated to Intesa Sanpaolo’s 20th century collection, Cantiere del ‘900 presents almost 200 of the over 3,000 works owned by the Bank: a late 20th century collection that is unparalleled in Italy.
The meetings(free admission) will be held in the Salone Mattioli in Gallerie d’Italia, 6 Piazza della Scala, Milan at 6.30 p.m..

The history of the prestigious collection will be examined during the first meeting of the Esplorando Cantiere del ‘900 series on Thursday 31 January, during which Giorgio Ferretti, head of artistic heritage at Banca Commerciale Italiana in the 1980’s and 1990’s, will discuss the birth of the collection, designed not only to organise the various collections but also to illustrate the context of each movement or artistic trend of the moment, and to promote young Italian artists.

In the second meeting on Thursday 28 February, Emilio Isgrò will illustrate his work L’Ora Italiana, on display at the Gallerie as a monographical analysis of Cantiere del ‘900. Indeed, Isgrò’s installation is one of the works that was purchased with great foresight in the 1980’s and is regarded as one of finest examples of artistic commitment during a difficult era marked by terrorism.

On 6 March at 6 p.m. Sergio Dangelo will guide a group of a maximum of 25 people, who have booked in advance, on a tour of Intesa Sanpaolo’s entire 20th century collection, examining all of its works in the process - paintings, sculptures, photography and other artistic techniques explored throughout the century. 

The examination of colour as an autonomous entity will be the theme of the third meeting on Thursday 21 March. Two of the artists represented in the “Il colore come forma plastica” display – Vittorio Marino and Claudio Olivieri – will talk about the original process that since the 1960’s has seen colour assume original tones and forms akin to those associated with the concept of abstraction.

Realism and Post-Cubism are the themes of the fifth meeting presented by Luciano Caramel on 18 April. This examination of Italian art from the end of World War Two up until the early 1950’s begins with a reinterpretation that seeks to resolve the conflict between Realism and Abstract art, with works by Afro, Alberto Burri, Emilio Vedova, Giuseppe Santomaso, the role of Lucio Fontana as regards the avant-garde currents of Spatialism and Nuclear Art, the research characterised by the “concrete” abstractionism of the MAC (Movimento Arte Concreta) and the rich panorama of the informal.

On 23 May the spotlight will fall on Lucio Fontana as described by Enrico Crispolti. Concetto spaziale: la luna a Venezia, an extraordinary mixed media work by Fontana inspired by the artist’s stay in Venice, high impact in terms of its size and for the use of fragments of glass that pays homage to the history and the Eastern influences in the city, will form the backdrop to this meeting, which will centre on an important nucleus of nine works belonging the bank’s collections.

On 20 June the guest will be Renato Barilli who will be talking about Italian art in the 1980’s, a period in which the banks that joined the Intesa Sanpaolo group continued to collect art dedicated to the situations arising in the 1980’s and 90’s. 

All of the meetings will take the form of a dialogue between the guest and Francesco Tedeschi, curator of Cantiere del ‘900, who will coordinate the entire series of meetings.
“Our idea when creating this ‘cantiere’ – Italian for ‘worksite’ – was that of an open project that seeks to uncover the details of an era that has been closely studied but which continues to intrigue because of its proximity in time and its influence on modern life and art” explains Francesco Tedeschi. “We hope that this series of meetings, which we decided to open to the general public and not strictly those in the business, proves to be informative, providing a platform for additional studies and research. The multimedia exhibits in the Gallerie are a hive of thousands of archive documents, video- and paper-based, that reconstruct the atmosphere of an era in which Italian art reached levels of excellence on a global scale”.

The Gallerie d’Italia - Piazza Scala is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 9.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. and until 10.30 p.m. on Thursdays, and admission is free. It has bookshops and cafes which are open every day from 8 a.m. to 10.30 p.m..
Freephone information number 800.167619 www.gallerieditalia.com

 

Esplorando Cantiere del ‘900
In-depth meetings organised by Francesco Tedeschi

31 January 2013 – 6.30-7.30 p.m. – Gli sviluppi della collezione Intesa Sanpaolo nella Milano degli anni Ottanta e Novanta (The development of the Intesa Sanpaolo collection in Milan in the 1980’s and 90’s). Conversation with Giorgio Ferretti, former General Manager and Head of Resources and art collections at Banca Commerciale Italiana

28 February 2013 - 6.30-7.30 p.m. - Conversation with Emilio Isgrò on L’ora Italiana

6 March 2013 – 6.00-7.30 p.m. – Extraordinary guided tour of the works of the Cantiere del Novecento led by Sergio Dangelo (max. 25 people, to book call. tel. 800167619)

21 March 2013 - 6.30-7.30 p.m. - Conversation with Giorgio Griffa, Vittorio Matino and Claudio Olivieri starting with Il colore come forma plastica

18 April 2013 - 6.30-7.30 p.m. - Oltre il realismo (e il postcubismo): l’arte italiana fra 1948 e primi anni Cinquanta (Beyond realism (and post-cubism): Italian art between 1948 and the early 1950’s); meeting with Luciano Caramel, art historian and critic

23 May 2013 - 6.30-7.30 p.m. - Lucio Fontana: La luna a Venezia e le opere della collezione Intesa Sanpaolo (La luna a Venezia and the works of the Intesa Sanpaolo collection); meeting with Enrico Crispolti, art historian and critic

20 June 2013 - 6.30-7.30 p.m. – Visioni multiple: l’arte italiana degli anni Ottanta (Multiple visions: Italian art in the 1980’s); meeting with Renato Barilli, art historian and critic

Free admission
Information at the ticket office

 

For more information:

INTESA SANPAOLO MEDIA OFFICE +39 0287963010 stampa@intesasanpaolo.com

INTESA SANPAOLO PROGETTO CULTURA
MEDIA OFFICE +39 335490311 - +39 3346516702 ufficiostampa@novellamirri.it