In Piove di Sacco (Padua) a retrospective dedicated to Ugo Valeri, rebellious dandy of early 20th century Italian art

The retrospective exhibition dedicated to Ugo Valeri (Piove di Sacco, 1873 - Venice, 1911), which will be held in Piove di Sacco (Padua) inaugurating the new exhibition space of Palazzo Pinato Valeri from November 23, 2024 to March 23, 2025, is a tribute to the life and work of this artist considered the rebellious dandy of early 20th century Italian art. Entitled Ugo Valeri. Dandy and Rebel, the exhibition curated by Federica Luser with Trart, promoted by the Municipality of Piove di Sacco and supported by BCC VENETA, brings together about eighty works that trace his career and tumultuous life, characterized by intense artistic fervor and an existence lived between genius and unruliness that ended tragically in 1911 following a fall from a window at Ca’ Pesaro in Venice under circumstances that have never been clarified.

Valeri, who was born in Piove di Sacco in 1873, is an artist who has often been compared to Toulouse-Lautrec for his ability to give body and soul, with just a few strokes, to the humanity he encountered in his restless wanderings, in his evenings of daze, in his biting an existence always over the top. He attended the Academies of Venice and Bologna and soon became a major figure on the Italian art scene, winning prestigious prizes such as the France Prize in 1898 and participating in international exhibitions (in 1906 he was at the International Exhibition of Simplon, in 1907 he was at the Venice Biennale, in 1909 and again in 1910 Ca’ Pesaro gave him two solo shows). His works reflect a bohemian world of dancers, dandies and scenes of urban life, depicted with a caricature approach that expressed, in his words, “the sincerest expression of truth.”

His association with Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and Umberto Notari was important, as was his collaboration with the best magazines of the time, such as Italia ride, L’Illustrazione italiana, Poesia, Secolo XX, and La Lettura. Valeri interpreted a new course of modern art, free from the constraints of tradition. In 1909 he exhibited his works spread over three rooms at Ca’ Pesaro in Venice, mixing genres and subjects, proposing a new perspective toward contemporary art as opposed to the choices considered “swampy” of the Venice Biennale, and initiated the season of the so-called “Capesarina Secession,” so much so that Arturo Martini wrote at his death, “Ugo was for us the trumpet of the new morning.”

The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to rediscover the complexity of Valeri’s work, thanks in part to loans from private collections.

Hours: Wednesdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays from 4 to 6 p.m.; Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m.; Sundays from 10 a.m. to noon and 4 to 6 p.m.

Free admission.

In Piove di Sacco (Padua) a retrospective dedicated to Ugo Valeri, rebellious dandy of early 20th century Italian art

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