Friday, September 19, 2008

Art Exhibits in Italy

ARTS GUIDE: EXHIBITS IN ITALY
19 September 2008
ANSA - English Media Service

The following is a city-by-city guide to some of Italy's top art exhibitions:

CORTONA - Etruscan Academy Museum (MAEC): 30 masterpieces of Etruscan art from Russia's Hermitage museum including the only Etruscan bronze funerary urn ever found; until January 6.

FERMO - Palazzo dei Priori: leading Marche Renaissance painter Vincenzo Pagani and influences including Raphael, Carlo Crivelli; until November 9.

FLORENCE - Palazzo Strozzi: Painting Light, The Unknown Techniques of Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh; until September 28.

- Galleria Palatina: Flemish Artists in Florence, 1430-1530; the likes of van Eyck, Memling and Leida compared to contemporaries Raphael, Botticelli, Castagno and Ghirlandaio; until October 26.

- Palazzo Pitti: The Medicis And Science; large collection of scientific writings and tools; until January 11.

- Archaeological Museum: retrospective on British sculptor Matthew Spender, who has lived in Tuscany for the last 40 years; until December 30.

GENOA - Palazzo Bianco: 'From The Cradle To The Altar: Scenes Of Female Life In The Belle Epoque'; until October 10.

MAMIANO DI TRAVERSETOLO (PARMA) - Fondazione Magnani-Rocca: Giovanni Fattori, The Poetry of Truth; until November 30.

MANTUA - Ducal Palace; first major show on Jacopo Alari-Bonacorsi aka Antico, an acclaimed sculptor in Mantegna's time; bronzes of mythological figures and busts of Roman rulers loaned by the Louvre, the Met, the Victor & Albert, the Bargello and Viennese museums; from Modena's Galleria Estense, celebrated Vaso Gonzaga made for wedding of Gianfrancesco Gonzaga; until January 6.

MILAN - Palazzo Reale: biggest-ever retrospective on Naive artist Antonio Ligabue; 250 works until October 26.

- Palazzo della Ragione: Unknown Weegee, more than 100 photos by US photographer; until October 12.

MONTECATINI TERME - ex-Terme Tamerici: Boldini Mon Amour; 180 works by Parisian School portrait painter Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931), many unseen including three portraits of secret lover Countess Rastj; until December 30.

NAPLES - Madre modern art gallery: Robert Rauschenberg, Travelling 1970-76; October 19-January 19.

PARMA - National Gallery: 'Correggio', biggest exhibit on once-neglected artist in years; around 80 works flanked by 40 by contemporaries, plus chance to see three most important frescos up close in city churches; September 20-January 25.

PERUGIA - Palazzo Baldeschi al Corso; From Corot to Picasso and Fattori to De Pisis, modern Italian and European art from two private collections including Monet, Van Gogh and Modigliani; until January 15.

REGGIO EMILIA - Palazzo Magnani and other venues; Matilda and the Treasure of Canossa, 200 works of Medieval art; until January 11.

ROME - Castel Sant'Angelo: The Wolf And The Sphinx, Rome and Egypt From History To Myth; until November 9.

- National Gallery of Modern Art: Mario Schifano, major retrospective marking 10th anniversary of death; until September 28.

- Palatine Hill: Augustus's House on view for first time in 25 years.

- Shenker Culture Club: 28 large religious works by Mario Schifano inspired by ancient Italian divinity Mater Matuta; marks 10th anniversary of artist's death; until October 15.

SIENA - Piazza del Duomo and other city sites: Mario Ceroli, Forms In Movement; giant works by avant-garde sculptor; until November 7.

STRA - Villa Pisani: 70 paintings and monumental works by sculptor Mimmo Paladino, hand-picked and arranged by the artist in the historic villa's magnificent grounds; until November 2.

TIVOLI - Villa Adriana: Between Light and Darkness; Ancient Roman funerary beds including bone-decorated bed from Aquinum and one found on Rome's Esquiline Hill; until November 2.

TRENTO - Castello del Buonconsiglio; first major show on relatively unknown Renaissance sculptor Andrea Briosco aka Il Riccio; until November 2.

- same venue: Rembrandt and Masterpieces of European Graphics; until November 2.

TURIN - San Paolo Foundation: Heavenly Empire, From Terracotta Army To Silk Road; imperial Chinese works from Qi, Han and Tang dynasties (3rd century BC to 11th century AD); until November 16.

- Palazzo Bellini: Red Coral, Precious Art from Baroque Sicily; until September 28.

VENICE - Biennale venues including Arsenale and Padiglione Italia: 11th International Architecture Exhibition from 56 countries entitled Out There: Architecture Beyond Building; 23 installations at Arsenale; experimental work of 55 international firms at the Padiglione as well as a survey of the Masters of the Experiment, five visionaries including Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid; also, Uneternal City, Thirty Years of Uninterrupted Rome, 12 designs for a possible 'new Rome'; plus 13 exhibitions around Venice by visiting countries and 24 collateral events; until November 23.

VICENZA - Palazzo Barbaran: 'Palladio 500', 200 works including 30 models of Palladian architecture plus art by Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian celebrate Andrea Palladio on the 500th anniversary of his birth; September 20-January 9; exhibit moves to London (Royal Academy of Arts, 31 January - 13 April 2009) and on to Washington in autumn 2009.

VITERBO - Rocca Albertoz Etruscan Museum: Celtic, Etruscan and other pre-Roman artefacts showing their interpretations of the night sky; show includes Celtic ceremonial brooch from Brno, Czech Republic; bronze Etruscan statuette of 'haruspex' (entrail-gazing priest); and famous 'Liver of Piacenza', a bronze model of the sheep's organ used by Etruscans to tell the future; until October 26.