Waiting for Fontanesi: a series of meetings on current exhibitions devoted to the masters and art of the 19th century

While waiting for the major exhibition Antonio Fontanesi and his legacy, which will be held at the Palazzo dei Musei in Reggio Emilia, the cycle of conferences Waiting for Fontanesi centered on the most important exhibitions dedicated to the masters and painting of the 19th century currently underway in Ferrara, Milan, Turin, and Forlì continues in the Sala del Tricolore.

The meetings, held by scholars, exhibition curators and directors of Galleries and Museums, are intended as an approach to the Fontanesi retrospective, investigating the authors and the artistic environment of the painter and engraver from Reggio Emilia.

On Friday, February 22, 2019, the exhibition I Macchiaioli. Italian Art Towards Modernity, curated by Cristina Acidini and Virginia Bertone, running at the GAM - Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin until March 24, 2019.
The exhibition focuses on the experience of the Macchiaioli painters, which constitutes one of the highest and most significant moments of the desire to renew figurative languages, which became a priority in the mid-19th century. It was in Florence that the young frequenters of the Caffè Michelangiolo perfected the ’macchia’. This courageous experimentation would lead to ’modern’ Italian art, which had its first affirmation at the Promotrice delle Belle Arti in Turin in May 1861. In the years of its proclamation as capital of the Kingdom of Italy, Turin experienced a season of particular cultural ferment. It was during this period, specifically in 1863, that the Civic Collection of Modern Art-the current GAM-was born, which had the task of documenting art that was then contemporary. Weaving a fruitful dialogue with Macchiaioli painting is GAM’s prestigious 19th-century collection, which fosters an unprecedented opportunity for study. In this perspective, special attention is given back to Antonio Fontanesi, on the bicentenary of his birth, to the Piedmontese artists of the Rivara School (Carlo Pittara, Ernesto Bertea, Federico Pastoris and Alfredo D’Andrade) and to the Ligurians of the Scuola dei Grigi (Serafino De Avendaño, Ernesto Rayper), identifying new and original elements of comparison with the painting of Cristiano Banti, Giovanni Fattori, Telemaco Signorini, and Odoardo Borrani, protagonists of this crucial artistic season.

Speaking about the exhibition will be Virginia Bertone, chief curator of GAM-Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino, and Silvestra Bietoletti, art historian and specialist in Macchiaioli painting.

The exhibition will conclude on March 24, 2019: some masterpieces of Fontanesi’s painting, including La quiete, will arrive in Reggio Emilia to take part in the exhibition Antonio Fontanesi e la sua eredità, soon to open and of which Dr. Bertone is co-curator together with Elisabetta Farioli and Claudio Spadoni.

The exhibition in Turin, organized and promoted by Fondazione Torino Musei, GAM Torino and 24 Ore Cultura - Gruppo 24 Ore, curated by Cristina Acidini and Virginia Bertone, with technical and scientific coordination by Silvestra Bietoletti and Francesca Petrucci, sees the collaboration of the Matteucci Institute of Viareggio and presents about 80 works from the most important Italian museums, institutions and private collections, in a rich artistic narrative on the history of the movement, from its origins to 1870, with fascinating comparisons with their Italian contemporaries.

The series of meetings Waiting for Fontanesi is promoted and organized by the Civic Museums in collaboration with Unioncamere Emilia-Romagna, Reggio Emilia Chamber of Commerce, and Apt Servizi.

The initiative has free admission and no reservation is required

Waiting for Fontanesi: a series of meetings on current exhibitions devoted to the masters and art of the 19th century

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