Lynda Benglis and Properzia de' Rossi at MAMbo, a dialogue between artists from distant eras

MAMbo at Bologna opens the exhibition Lynda Benglis and Properzia de’ Rossi: Sculptors of capricious and dexterous ingenuity, on view from Jan. 26 to May 26, 2024, curated by Lorenzo Balbi. The exhibition is promoted by Settore Musei Civici Bologna and Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna. The opening will take place on January 25, as part of ARTCITY Bologna 2024, in collaboration with BolognaFiere on the occasion of ARTEFIERA, while the press preview conference will instead take place on Wednesday, January 24 at MAMbo’s Project Room.

The exhibition aims to create a dialogue between sculptor Properzia de’ Rossi (Bologna, c. 1490 - 1530), the only woman to have a biography within Giorgio Vasari’s Lives , and visual artist Lynda Benglis (Lake Charles, 1941). Linked together by sculpture, the two women and artists share an ambition to assert their creative individuality in contexts that are hostile or difficult for women to access. The exhibition represents the possibility of creating shared projects with the intention of producing new and fascinating diachronic narratives about the city’s cultural history.

Prominent elements within the exhibition, and attributed by Vasari to Properzia de’ Rossi, are the restored aristocratic coat of arms of the family Grassi in silver filigree and hazelnuts, and a 3-D reproduction of the marble tile representing the biblical episode ofJoseph and the wife of Putifares, made for the portal of the Basilica of San Petronio, preserved within its Diocesan Museum. Lynda Benglis, on the other hand, presents seven marble sculptures, created between 2015 and 2021, from the Thomas Brambilla Gallery in Bergamo and private collections.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by Silvana Editoriale in a bilingual Italian/English edition. The volume includes texts by various authors such as Lorenzo Balbi, Vera Fortunati, Irene Graziani, David J. Getsy and Eloisa Morra. In addition, there are thematic contributions by Elisa Rebellato on the edition of Vasari’s Lives on display, Matteo Fabbri on the 3D reproduction of the bas-relief Giuseppe e la moglie di Putifarre by Properzia de’ Rossi, and Simone di Virgilio on the restoration of Properzia de’ Rossi’s coat of arms.

Lynda Benglis and Properzia de' Rossi at MAMbo, a dialogue between artists from distant eras

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