Verso Oriente e ritorno
from 22 June 2012 to 14 October 2012
Montelupo Fiorentino (FI)
Verso Oriente e ritorno
At the Palazzo Podestarile in Montelupo Fiorentino, to mark the 20th International Ceramics Festival, the exhibition *Verso Oriente e ritorno. Orientalist art and the exchange of decorative motifs in the Mediterranean basin*, curated by Marilena Pasquali, will open on 22 June 2012. Organised as part of the project *Il Mare tra le Genti. Routes of Culture, Art and Ceramics between Islam and Tuscany, the exhibition is sponsored by the Municipality of Montelupo Fiorentino and the Montelupo Museum Foundation, with support from the Region of Tuscany, and is organised in collaboration with a prestigious Scientific Committee comprising Fausto Berti, Amerigo Buranelli, Jale Erzen, Giovanni Godi, Pietro Lenzini, Vincenzo Lucchese Salati, Raffaele Milani, Giordano Montecchi, Nicola Muschitello, Paola Pallottino, Eugenio Riccòmini and Olivia Rucellai.
The exhibition highlights the exchange of culture and imagery that unites, today as in the past, the countries bordering the Mediterranean—those on the European shore and those on the Islamic shore—and presents around one hundred works of painting, sculpture, graphics and ceramics by the leading figures of Italian Orientalism, spanning a period from the mid-19th century to the first two decades of the 20th century, with a focus on those works that best demonstrate the contribution Islamic culture made to Italian culture in terms of visual inspiration, creative ideas and decorative motifs.
Sumptuous interiors, details of furnishings and precious coverings abound in the works of the Orientalists; indeed, they often constitute their defining feature. And it is not uncommon for ceramics – refined everyday objects, colourful riggiole tiles or unique pieces – to be depicted with the meticulousness of an objective record or the charm of a distant echo. Orientalist art – a ‘genre’ that was all the rage throughout Europe and also in Italy for over a century – becomes the field of inquiry for analysing the exchanges of language, ornamental motifs and borrowed imagery between European art and lifestyle, on the one hand, and the Arab world on the other, through a direct comparison of original works and ceramic pieces, but also via illustrations, photographs, advertising posters, magazines and books, architecture and interior design.
An extensive documentary and multimedia display will serve to highlight the works, contextualising each piece within the framework of its time and offering visual elements that help to understand the dense network of exchanges which, until the fall of the Ottoman Empire, linked Italy to those vast territories, from the sumptuous and decadent capital, Istanbul, to the regions of North Africa.
To connect those years—which are perhaps only seemingly so distant from us—to the present, a specific space will be dedicated to a number of contemporary Italian artists who, in recent years, have embarked on their own personal ‘journey to the East’, bringing back in their works the echoes and scents of this ‘elsewhere’ that has become an inner landscape.
To connect those years—which are perhaps only seemingly so distant from us—to the present, a specific space will be dedicated to a number of contemporary Italian artists who, in recent years, have embarked on their own personal ‘journey to the East’, bringing back in their works the echoes and scents of this ‘elsewhere’ that has become an inner landscape.
The exhibition will thus be divided into three ‘rooms’ or sections:
I. In Search of the True
Around 1860–1880, numerous European painters, draughtsmen and photographers visited the Islamic countries bordering the Mediterranean (the Near East and North Africa) with the declared aim of documenting the peoples, customs and traditions of countries that were still little known and often shrouded in mystery. From Domenico Morelli to Cesare Biseo, from Alberto Pasini to Roberto Guastalla, from Fabio Fabbi to Giuseppe Haimann, there are many Italian artists who rightly belong to this large group of ‘on-the-spot’ Orientalists, and numerous examples of their work will be on display.
Around 1860–1880, numerous European painters, draughtsmen and photographers visited the Islamic countries bordering the Mediterranean (the Near East and North Africa) with the declared aim of documenting the peoples, customs and traditions of countries that were still little known and often shrouded in mystery. From Domenico Morelli to Cesare Biseo, from Alberto Pasini to Roberto Guastalla, from Fabio Fabbi to Giuseppe Haimann, there are many Italian artists who rightly belong to this large group of ‘on-the-spot’ Orientalists, and numerous examples of their work will be on display.
II. In Search of the Dream
From 1880 onwards and throughout the first fifteen years of the 20th century, the prevailing Symbolist and Orphic atmosphere drew fervently on Arabesque influences, which became a fertile source of inspiration for the entire European Art Nouveau movement—a trend that, in Italy too, touched every aspect of artistic expression and lifestyle, from the paintings of Francesco Netti to the drawings and woodcuts of Domenico Baccarini and Francesco Nonni, from the ceramics of Galileo Chini to the furniture of Carlo Bugatti, from the embroidery of Emma Bonazzi to the illustrations by Alberto Della Valle for Emilio Salgari and the alluring posters by Metlicovicz and Hohenstein. Specific sections will be dedicated to particularly significant themes and subjects, such as Harem and Hammam; Salome, Salammbô, Aziyadè & Companions; The Thousand and One Nights; The Eyes of the Peacock’s Tail.
From 1880 onwards and throughout the first fifteen years of the 20th century, the prevailing Symbolist and Orphic atmosphere drew fervently on Arabesque influences, which became a fertile source of inspiration for the entire European Art Nouveau movement—a trend that, in Italy too, touched every aspect of artistic expression and lifestyle, from the paintings of Francesco Netti to the drawings and woodcuts of Domenico Baccarini and Francesco Nonni, from the ceramics of Galileo Chini to the furniture of Carlo Bugatti, from the embroidery of Emma Bonazzi to the illustrations by Alberto Della Valle for Emilio Salgari and the alluring posters by Metlicovicz and Hohenstein. Specific sections will be dedicated to particularly significant themes and subjects, such as Harem and Hammam; Salome, Salammbô, Aziyadè & Companions; The Thousand and One Nights; The Eyes of the Peacock’s Tail.
III. In Search of Encounter
In our time, with Islamic countries having become a concrete part of daily life and the dream of an all too often mannered exoticism having faded, many artists feel the pressing need for a direct encounter with the countries ‘beyond the sea’—often experienced as the places of their roots—and with peoples who are our closest neighbours on the other shores of the Mediterranean. In this section, we will find works by, among others, Aldo Mondino, Arcangelo, Bertozzi & Casoni, and Fabrizio Passarella.
In our time, with Islamic countries having become a concrete part of daily life and the dream of an all too often mannered exoticism having faded, many artists feel the pressing need for a direct encounter with the countries ‘beyond the sea’—often experienced as the places of their roots—and with peoples who are our closest neighbours on the other shores of the Mediterranean. In this section, we will find works by, among others, Aldo Mondino, Arcangelo, Bertozzi & Casoni, and Fabrizio Passarella.
The catalogue accompanying the exhibition will follow a similar structure and, in addition to the curator’s introductory essay and historical-critical contributions from other authors, will present photographs and descriptions of the works on display, accompanied by an in-depth comparative iconographic repertoire.
To coincide with the exhibition, a series of meetings, conferences and seminars will be held, offering the opportunity to explore, through dialogue with experts in the field, the theme of the exchange of images between Italy and the Islamic world and to re-examine its outcomes.
Verso Oriente e ritorno
Sultan Murad III, 2000
olio su linoleum
120 × 90 cm
Opere correlate
Nessuna opera correlata trovata