A two-location anthological exhibition in Rome dedicated to Titina Maselli, marking the centenary of her birth

From December 12, 2024 to April 21, 2025, the Villa Torlonia Museums at the Casino dei Principi and the MLAC - Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea of Sapienza University of Rome will host a major anthological exhibition dedicated to Titina Maselli (1924-2005), among the most original and significant artists of the Italian twentieth century.

The exhibition titled Titina Maselli is curated by Claudio Crescentini, Federica Pirani, Ilaria Schiaffini, Claudia Terenzi and Giulia Tulino, and is promoted by Roma Capitale (Assessorato alla Cultura - Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali), in collaboration with Sapienza Università di Roma, theTitina Maselli Archive and the National Committee for the Celebrations of the Centenary of the Birth of Titina Maselli, and with the organization and museum services curated by Zètema Progetto Cultura, celebrates the centenary of the artist’s birth, proposing a comprehensive view of her pictorial production and bringing her painting and figure back to the center ofcritical attention. Maselli crossed with autonomy and visual freedom many artistic currents, from the Roman School to Futurism, without ever tying himself to any of them. The common thread of his work has been the constant search for a language capable of grasping and interpreting modernity.

From his earliest works in the 1940s and 1950s, characterized by urban perspectives, skyscrapers and still lifes with discarded materials, to later developments, Maselli has in some ways been ahead of his time, theories and the history of contemporary art. His work, with an aesthetic that seems to anticipate Pop Art, inspired generations of artists, particularly in the 1960s.

An artist between painting and theater

Titina Maselli’s career was not limited to painting: she was an acclaimed set and costume designer for the theater, a field that also consolidated her fame internationally, particularly in France. The artist also exhibited several times at the Quadriennale in Rome and the Venice Biennale.

Many intellectuals, critics and artists have dialogued with his work over the years. Writers include Corrado Alvaro, Alberto Moravia, and Jacques Dupin; art historians and critics include Renato Barilli, Enrico Crispolti, Duilio Morosini, Francesco Arcangeli, Marco Valsecchi, Maurizio Calvesi, and Achille Bonito Oliva; filmmakers include Michelangelo Antonioni. In addition, Maselli has cultivated relationships with numerous artists, including Lorenzo Tornabuoni, Renzo Vespignani and Gilles Aillaud.

Exhibition route

The exhibition is divided into a path that explores the artist’s main iconographic themes: portraits and self-portraits, urban landscapes, sports, still lifes and theater. The exhibition sections will feature little-known or rarely exhibited works alongside works from public and private collections. These include loans from institutions such as the Museo del Novecento in Florence, the Museo Galleria del Premio Suzzara (Mantua), and the Musei Civici in Macerata, as well as paintings, documents and archival material found in the Capitoline collections (MACRO depots, Casa Museo Alberto Moravia, CRDAV Centro Ricerche Documentazione Arti Visive, and the Archives of the Galleria d’Arte Moderna). Also on display are works from the Toti Scialoja Foundation and various galleries and private collections.

At the Casino dei Principi, the focus is on the artistic production of the 1940s and 1950s, with cross-thematic insights extending to the 2000s. The MLAC, on the other hand, hosts a selection of large-format works made from the 1960s onward. Here it is possible to immerse oneself in Maselli’stheatrical activity, thanks to previously unpublished documents, such as set photographs by Monica Biancardi and sketches restored by the artist’s last collaborator, Barbara Bessi.

Both venues offer a rich documentary and archival apparatus, including photographs, catalogs, brochures and documentary videos. Prominent among the audiovisual materials are Le metropoli di Titina Maselli (1969, directed by Massimo Mida), Nel ring della città (1971, directed by Mario Carbone), and Titina Maselli - peintre et scénographe (1924-2005) (2005, directed by Mark Blezinger).

The exhibition catalog, published by Electa, features essays by the curators, a wealth of images and the full publication of interviews and presentations devoted to the artist. It also includes a detailed biography, a bibliography and an updated registry of theatrical sets and costumes.

The Titina Maselli exhibition also renews the Capitoline Superintendency ’s commitment to making temporary exhibitions accessible and usable by the wider public. There is provision for listening to in-depth audio and tactile enjoyment of some of the works being reproduced, as well as the possibility of enjoying tactile-sensory guided tours for the blind and an accompanying person.

Biographical note on Titina Maselli

Born in Rome on April 11, 1924, Titina Maselli (Modesta Maselli) was the daughter of art critic Ercole Maselli and Elena Labroca, and sister of director Francesco (Citto) Maselli. Raised in a fervent cultural environment, she began painting at a very young age, influenced by Roman expressionism. After a trip to Paris in 1947 and marriage to painter Toti Scialoja, she began to study the common object, a pictorial subject she would develop throughout her production.

In the 1950s, during his stay in New York (1952-1955), his production was enriched with urban suggestions: metropolitan nocturnes, skyscrapers, lights, theaters, cinemas and automobiles, in a synthesis between Futurist dynamism and American Vedutism. In the 1960s, after returning from New York to Rome, spending a few years in Austria, his painting moved toward a more minimal and anti-naturalistic language, characterized by bright colors and two-dimensional planes, with subjects such as sports figures in motion, particularly boxers and soccer players. From 1970, Maselli also engaged in a prolific theatrical activity, creating sets and costumes for French, German and Italian theaters. Meanwhile, she participated in several editions of the Venice Biennials and the Rome Quadrennials, while various galleries dedicated solo exhibitions to her. The artist passed away in Rome on February 22, 2005.

Hours: Casino dei Principi, Tuesday to Sunday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. (closed Mondays); Museo Laboratorio d’Arte Contemporanea, Monday to Saturday from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. (with free admission and closed Sundays and holidays, Dec. 23, 2024 to Jan. 4, 2025 and April 17 to 21, 2025).

A two-location anthological exhibition in Rome dedicated to Titina Maselli, marking the centenary of her birth

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