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, Paris, Hamburg, Madrid and Philadelphia until 2026. Even in Italy, 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.
“Il Surrealismo e l’Italia”, exhibition view at Fondazione Magnani-Rocca, Mamiano di Traversetolo, Parma © kreativehouse, courtesy Fondazione Magnani-Rocca, Mamiano di Traversetolo (Parma)
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, very peculiar, of the avant-garde in Italy. 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.
René Magritte, “L’épreuve du sommeil”, 1926, oil on canvas © René Magritte, by SIAE 2024, courtesy Fondazione Magnani-Rocca, Mamiano di Traversetolo (Parma)
The exhibition, curated by Alice Ensabella, Alessandro Nigro, Stefano Roffi, proceeds through the presentation of the many international artists who participated in Surrealism (from Magritte to Dalí, from Man Ray to Ernst, from Masson to Matta), with attention to represent the great catalog of possibilities of expression and media connected to the avant-garde, such as painting (figurative and abstract), photography, collage, sculpture etc. At the same time, thanks to a careful choice of documents, it is clarified that in the context of the international diffusion of the movement, Italy represents an exception, given the ostracism of Fascism which hindered its reception, while dispelling the opinion that there was a poor knowledge of surrealist art and literature.
Enrico Baj, “Generale”, 1975, acrylics and collage on board, courtesy Fondazione Magnani-Rocca, Mamiano di Traversetolo (Parma)
To confirm this reading, the following rooms host some examples from the most important Italian collections, from that of Peggy Guggenheim, presented at the 1948 Venice Biennale, 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, Magritte’s painting, L’epouvre du sommeil, from 1926. In this section it stands out for its themes and complexity the room dedicated to the collections of Enrico Baj and Antonio Passarè. The former, 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. Mesens, Wilfredo Lam and Roberto Matta, as well represented in the exhibition.
Leonor Fini, “Le crépuscule du matin”, 1979, oil on canvas © Leonor Fini, by SIAE 2024, courtesy Fondazione Magnani-Rocca, Mamiano di Traversetolo (Parma)
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”, i.e. Leonor Fini, Fabrizio Clerici, Stanislao Lepri etc ., representatives of a visionary, 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. In this section, 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.
Info:
AA.VV. Il Surrealismo e l’Italia [Surrealism and Italy]
14/09/2024 – 15/12/2024
Fondazione Magnani-Rocca
Via Fondazione Magnani Rocca, 4, Mamiano di Traversetolo (Parma)
www.magnanirocca.it
Serena Trinchero is a scholar and professor of contemporary art history at IPH – International Programme in Humanities of the Pisa University. Alongside her scientific research, she carries out curatorial, educational and residency projects between performing and visual art, collaborating with various institutions at a national level.
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