At Livorno's Fattori Museum, an exhibition recounts Raffaello Gambogi eighty years after his death

The exhibition Raffaello Gambogi. Art as Revelation, curated by Giovanna Bacci di Capaci, promoted by the Municipality of Livorno with the contribution of Fondazione Livorno, designed and set up by Cooperativa Itinera, in collaboration with Gallery 800/900 ARTSTUDIO Livorno/Lucca. Open to the public from Nov. 18, 2023 to Feb. 25, 2024, the exhibition aims to tell the story of Livorno painter Raffaello Gambogi (1874-1943) eighty years after his death and nearly one hundred and fifty years after his birth. An emotional and empathic painter, a hypersensitive and restless man, as he is defined by the curator in the exhibition catalog, and a character who is still little known in the city’s art scene, he is returning to be the subject of reflection: in fact, this is the second phase of a project born in 2022 and carried out in Volterra in the year of its election as Capital of Tuscan Culture.

Two focuses included in the exhibition intend to explore the theme of its restlessness and hypersensitivity. On the one hand, the presentation of a group of works by Elin Danielson, the Finnish-born painter who came to Italy to study drawing, who shared with Gambogi her private and professional life, initiating a continuous and mutual artistic contamination that would last until her death; on the other hand, that onart as a form of treatment, the common thread in the personal history of the painter, who was hospitalized several times in an asylum for mental illness. The study of the medical records compiled in theformer San Girolamo Frenocomio in Volterra explain some ethnographic scenarios present in the paintings and extend the research beyond Gambogi himself, following the link between human characteristics and the artistic world, between approach to art as a form of treatment and artistic expression as a “revelation” of one’s suffering.

The exhibition presents a total of thirty-four works and fits perfectly on the second floor of the museum structure, dialoguing with the collection of paintings by Giovanni Fattori and the artistic group of Macchiaioli and post-Macchioli painters who worked in Tuscany between the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. In fact, the exhibition was created as a result of the cooperative’s participation in the call for proposals “Interventions for Art and Culture 2023,” called by the Livorno Foundation and aimed at promoting the deepening of significant places for the history and cultural identity of the territory with initiatives in the name of innovation and respect for local traditions.

Therefore, the exhibition also aims to be an opportunity to enhance local culture. The critical analysis on art and social relations is accompanied by the study of the territorial context in which they took place: Torre del Lago, where Gambogi lived the goliardic boarding school with the painters of the Club la Bohème, Volterra, where he stayed several times to cure his psychosis, but above all Antignano, the place of the painter’s soul, where he was born and where he returned to live even after he married. At the time a small hamlet of Livorno, its charm returns repeatedly throughout his production: in the poachers with rifles in their fists, in the glitter of the sea, in the tamarisk trees stirred by the libeccio, in the narrow streets that wind through the rosemary and broom.

Enriching the exhibition project will also be an extensive calendar of events aimed at exploring the themes of the exhibition. On Sunday, December 3, there will be a presentation of the catalog at Fondazione Livorno, a time to meet with the curator and an opportunity to see works by Raffaello Gambogi and Elin Danielson from the collection in the museum. Guided tours and Sunday itineraries in the area, educational workshops for children, lectures on the theme of art therapy and cultural welfare were also planned. In collaboration with the Disability Desk of the Municipality of Livorno and the Comunico association, appointments dedicated with attention to cognitive and sensory disabilities will also be planned.

For info visit https://www.museofattori.livorno.it/, write to infomuseofattori@comune.livorno.it or call 0586/824607.

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m.

At Livorno's Fattori Museum, an exhibition recounts Raffaello Gambogi eighty years after his death

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