From Giacometti to Picasso, Fontana to Manzoni: an exhibition in Rome on primitivism in 20th century sculpture

Je suis l’autre. Giacometti, Picasso and the Others. Primitivism in Twentieth-Century Sculpture is the exhibition to be held at the Great Halls of the Baths of Diocletian(Rome) from September 28, 2018 to January 20, 2019. The exhibition will present eighty works created by the great masters of the 20th century such as Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, and many others.

The fulcrum of the exhibition is the influence that African art had on 20th-century artists following France ’s expansions into Africa, leading them to create works reminiscent of the wood and ivory sculptures, masks, totems, and votive statuettes titpic of the peoples of the African continent. This phenomenon, which has affected three generations of artists, is called Primitivism.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by Electa, edited (as is the exhibition) by Francesco Paolo Campione and Maria Grazia Messina, which includes numerous essays and a rich anthology on the “primitive arts” as seen by artists and intellectuals of the 20th century, offering a wide-ranging and documented multifocal view of the meanings and values of the works on display and, more generally, of the theme of Primitivism in 20th-century art.

“The exhibition,” reads the presentation, “is conceived as a journey within thematic areas, which correspond to the main features of the inner exploration that united twentieth-century artists with the art of the cultures from which they took their cue. An art revealing the deep tensions and needs of the individual, able to fearlessly enter the world of myth and the sphere of utopia, including political utopia. At least three whole generations of artists adhered to Primitivism, mainly by virtue of a personal path of research. In the span of a few decades, the outward aspects of things were thus overwhelmed by the irruption of unusual genres of art, which not only schematized or deformed bodies to the point of making them unrecognizable, but which - by composing previously unknown ensembles - went somewhat autonomously in search of their own meaning.”

The exhibition can be visited during the opening hours of the National Roman Museum at the Baths of Diocletian: daily from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. (ticket office closes one hour earlier). Access to a single venue of the National Roman Museum: 13 euros. Integrated access (valid for three days, to visit Palazzo Massimo, Palazzo Altemps, the Crypta Balbi and the Baths of Diocletian): 15 euros. Information can be found on the National Roman Museum website.

The exhibition can be visited during the opening hours of the National Roman Museum at the Baths of Diocletian: daily from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. (the ticket office closes one hour earlier). Access to a single venue of the National Roman Museum: 13 euros. Integrated access (valid for three days, to visit Palazzo Massimo, Palazzo Altemps, the Crypta Balbi and the Baths of Diocletian): 15 euros. Information can be found on the National Roman Museum website.

The following is the complete list of artists on display: Karel Appel, Hans Arp, Kenneth Armitage, Georges Braque, Serge Brignoni, Agustín Cárdenas, Lynn Chadwick, André Derain, Jean Dubuffet, Sonja Ferlov Mancoba, Alberto Giacometti, Julio González, Henry Heerup, Ludwig Ernst Kirchner, Yves Klein, Jacques Lipchitz, Man Ray, André Masson, Joan Miró, Louise Nevelson, Isamu Noguchi, Pablo Picasso, Germaine Richier, Salvatore Scarpitta, Fritz Wotruba, Enrico Baj, Mirko Basaldella, Adriana Bisi Fabbri, Alik Cavaliere, Pietro Consagra, Roberto Crippa, Agenore Fabbri, Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Marino Marini, Luciano Minguzzi, Costantino Nivola, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Regina [Cassolo Bracchi], Raffaello A. Salimbeni, Gaston Chaïssac, Francesco Toris.

From Giacometti to Picasso, Fontana to Manzoni: an exhibition in Rome on primitivism in 20th century sculpture

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