From Burri to Capogrossi, Klein to Calder, Umbria's twentieth-century artists on display in Perugia

The CariPerugia Arte Foundation presents UNFORGETTABLE UMBRIA - Art at the Center between vocation and patronage, a story about the second half of the 20th century in Umbria through the works of great artists who chose to live and work here, in the space of a season or an entire life. Curated by Alessandra Migliorati, Paolo Nardon, and Stefania Petrillo, the exhibition is hosted in Perugia on the piano nobile of Palazzo Baldeschi al Corso from April 13 to November 3, 2019, and features a selection of paintings and sculptures by more than fifty internationally renowned artists: among others, Alighiero Boetti, Alberto Burri, Alexander Calder, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Piero Dorazio, Yves Klein, Leoncillo, Brian O’Doherty, Sol LeWitt, Beverly Pepper, Ivan Theimer, and Giuseppe Uncini.

In the collected measure of a region in which landscape and memory constitute an indissoluble value, many artists have found the ideal dimension for their research, recognizing themselves intimately in the places, or, more simply, grasping in depth that identity which, in many cases, they have been able to interpret and enrich. What emerges is a very rich mosaic of presences and a dense history of exhibition opportunities and interventions in the area, often favored by far-sighted patronage.

Attracted by the splendid countryside of Todi have been, among many others, Piero Dorazio and Alighiero Boetti; William Congdon, who left New York after traversingEurope, settled in Assisi for twenty years in 1959 with his conversion; Giuseppe Capogrossi made large murals in the former Capuchin monastery in Gubbio; Sol LeWitt who opted for Monteluco in Spoleto as an alternative center of gravity to his American home. Even Yves Klein in the span of his brief existence had occasion to come to Umbria at least five times, leaving the extraordinary ex voto in the Monastery of Santa Rita in Cascia. The ex voto, made to invoke “great beauty” over all his work, is on display along with a splendid Monochrome also left three years earlier in the Sanctuary.

In 1993 Piero Dorazio wrote in the essay Vivendo in Umbria, “Todi has been enjoying great international success for some years now. It is a beautiful city and not at all provincial; the countryside and rural culture that surround it make it an ideal site for those who exercise a creative profession. In all the years I have spent here slowly I have seen artists, writers, professionals establish their residence here [...]. But what do artists and intellectuals find around here? Certainly something they have always been looking for like me. Perhaps precisely the balance of living doing and meditation that I described above, an inalienable good that our civilization seems to have forgotten.”

These are just some of the testimonies of the illustrious guests who in the exhibition go alongside two Umbrian greats: Burri and Leoncillo, two masters who, though so different from each other in language and destiny, both initiated their research from a deep rootedness in the ancient culture of the region. So many individual trajectories have intertwined in Umbria, a traditional cultural crossroads, even in some epoch-making exhibitions, such as Spoleto 62, the great sculpture exhibition of which Calder ’s monumental stable is now an undisputed symbol, or The Space of the Image, the exhibition that in 1967 in Foligno was among the first to verify new research on “works-environment.” The exhibition also presents for the first time all the original sketches made by the 27 artists for the spectacular Campo del Sole on Lake Trasimeno.

The catalog, produced by Fabrizio Fabbri Editore also edited by Alessandra Migliorati, Paolo Nardon and Stefania Petrillo, includes stories, experiences, critical notes and suggestions alongside detailed documentation of the works. UNFORGETTABLE UMBRIA - Art at the Center between vocation and patronage is therefore also meant to be an opportunity to discover or retrace the itineraries of a contemporary art that is widespread in the region, often in evocative dialogue with the fabric of its historic centers or the unique scenarios of its landscape. For all information you can visit the official website of the Foundation.

Source: press release

From Burri to Capogrossi, Klein to Calder, Umbria's twentieth-century artists on display in Perugia

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.