Charles Doudelet and Leghorn Symbolism: the exhibition at the Collesalvetti Art Gallery

From Sept. 30, 2021 to Jan. 20, 2022, the Pinacoteca Comunale Carlo Servolini in Collesalvetti (Livorno) will dedicate an exhibition to Charles Doudelet (Lille, 1861 - Ghent, 1938), the Belgian engraver who spread the ideas of international Symbolism to the Tuscan coast: the exhibition, entitled Dans le noir. Charles Doudelet and Symbolism in Livorno, conceived and curated by Francesca Cagianelli (curator of the Pinacoteca) on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of the artist’s birth, is promoted by the Municipality of Collesalvetti, Fondazione Livorno, Fondazione Livorno - Arte e Cultura, under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture, theEmbassy of Belgium in Rome and the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the Provinces of Pisa and Livorno, in collaboration with the Italian Theosophical Society, conceived and curated by Francesca Cagianelli on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of Charles Doudelet’s birth. The exhibition is also made possible thanks to the participation of Gio Batta Bertonati, brother of Emilio Bertonati, gallery owner, art critic, painter and engraver (Levanto, 1934 - Milan, 1981), whose fortieth anniversary of death is being celebrated this year.

Twenty previously unpublished works by Doudelet, who was among the leading figures of Belgian Symbolism, as well as works by Leghorn artists traceable to the temperament of Labronian Symbolism, are included in the exhibition in order to weave further historiographical reasoning regarding the extraordinary personality of theBelgian artist, decidedly strategic with respect to the blossoming of an international season in early 20th-century Livorno, and to revive the Symbolist identity of some artists hitherto ascribed to the sphere of a generically post-Macchiaiolo orientation, such as in particular Gino Romiti, whose 140th birth anniversary is being celebrated this year, and a candidate, precisely on the occasion of the exhibition in Livorno, to rise to the rank of dean of Leghorn Symbolism. The exhibition therefore intends to trace new paths within the history of twentieth-century art in Tuscany, a complex and up-to-date artistic panorama that therefore sees in Livorno one of its nerve centers: indeed, here worked some of the protagonists of the association afferent to the historic Caffè Bardi, who drew from the dialogue and familiarity undertaken with Doudelet the profound reasons for a stylistic renewal in line with international Symbolism. Among them were such important artists as Renato Natali and Gastone Razzaguta, participants first in the revolutionary temperament of the Caffè Bardi and then in the more comfortable and traditional bed of the Labronico Group, presented in the Colligiana exhibition as the greatest interpreters of the Rose+Croix tendencies in Livorno, with reference to the’delinquent and, so to speak, ’underworld’ address, immortalized by Natali in the 1911 lithographic cycle and by Razzaguta in the famous Risse presented between 1914 and 1915 at the exhibitions of the Amatori e Cultori in Rome and at the Permanente in Milan.

Then there are far less acclaimed and only apparently minor identities compared to the hitherto traditionally celebrated elite of Labronica painting, such as Gabriele Gabrielli and Mario Pieri-Nerli, the two early-deceased Caffè Bardi outsiders, otherwise intent on transcribing mournful allegories, but also Raoul Dal Molin Ferenzona, an eccentric and cosmopolitan commuter between Florence and Livorno, who already at the dawn of the twentieth century became a conduit and guarantee of the leavening in our territory of an international taste, vibrant with occult fashions and informed by the rampant Rose+Croix theories. The exhibition also features the exceptional presence of a cultured Labronica woodcutter, trained not by chance in Ferenzoni’s orbit, namely Irma Pavone Grotta, an artist who, thanks also to the lesson of Luigi Servolini and to the projection towards certain cornerstones of international graphic art, first and foremost Félix Bracquemond, translated into up-to-date and convincing xylographic proofs mysterious drives and esoteric ferments metabolized in the city. Dominating the unprecedented itinerary dedicated to Leghorn Symbolism is Doudelet’s fraternal friend Benvenuto Benvenuti (also celebrated in the 140th anniversary of his birth), who, living in the small Antignanese villa adjoining the Villa Medusa inhabited by theBelgian artist, was to form an almost priestly fellowship with the latter, punctuated by occasions of exceptional historiographical potential, beginning with the monograph Ciò che penso dell’arte di Benvenuto Benvenuti, published by Arti Grafiche S. Belforte & C. of Livorno 1923, whose manuscript, dated Rome, January 25, 1923, was reprinted in facsimile in 1946: this is the bibliographical rarity Ce que je pense de l’art de Benvenuto Benvenuti (Édition publiée à Lucques dans l’imprimerie A. Lippi, sous la protection de l’Epée de l’Archange S.T Michel, Édition numérotée de 104 exemplaires, 1946), displayed in the exhibition. A historical-critical profile conceived in the terms of a statement of mystery aesthetics, this editorial cornerstone accompanies the valorization and historicization of the nucleus of architectural projects conceived by Benvenuti between 1906 and 1911, cosmogonic reflections on the City of Dream, woven on elegant and up-to-date Art Nouveau suggestions, but motivated by esoteric instances in line with the trends of international visionary architecture.

Parallel to the exhibition itinerary, a documentary section has been prepared with several novelties and valuable bibliographical rarities, such as the unobtainable copy of Charles Doudelet’s monograph signed by Ermanno Viezzoli (Trieste, Tipografia Moderna S.A., 1944), preserved at the Livorno Foundation (Argentieri Family Donation); Gastone Razzaguta’s Polpettone (Razzaguta Archive), or a kind of unpublished anthology of transcriptions from the most famous texts of ancient and modern religions, whose post quem date could be found in the quotation taken from the series of issues of “UR” (1927-1928), directed by Julius Evola; or, again, to the refined edition of La Cerchia Paradisiaca. Celebration of Lucca, Oration delivered to the citizenry in the hall of the Palazzo Guinigi on December 11, 1921, the year of the VI centenary of Dante by Aleardo Kutufà D’Atene (In Lucca, at the Coop. Tip. Edit. Lucchese, A.D. MCMXXII), evidence of the association established by the author with Raoul Dal Molin Ferenzona.

Collaterally to the exhibition, the Pinacoteca Comunale Carlo Servolini is launching an Autumn Calendar entitled “Beyond the Veil of Isis,” sponsored by the Municipality of Collesalvetti, conceived and curated by Francesca Cagianelli, dedicated to the problems of the circulation of esotericism between Tuscany and Europe, full of surprises and revelations. The exhibition is chaired by a Scientific Committee consisting of Francesca Cagianelli, Curator of the Pinacoteca Comunale Carlo Servolini; Maurice Culot, Belgian architect, urban planner and publisher, President of the Arcas International Architecture Group; Dario Matteoni, art historian, Director of the Academy of Fine Arts, "Alma Artis, Pisa; Andrea Muzzi, art historian, former Director Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the provinces of Pisa and Livorno; William Pesson, French architect and architectural historian, member of the Arcas International Architecture Group; and Silvia Vallini, Foreign Ministry official. All information can be found on the website of the Municipality of Collesalvetti.

Charles Doudelet and Leghorn Symbolism: the exhibition at the Collesalvetti Art Gallery

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