Mario Radice and the relationship with architect friends on display at the Como Art Gallery

Until November 24, 2019, the Pinacoteca Civica di Como is hosting the exhibition Mario Radice: the painter and architects. Collaboration with Cesare Cattaneo, Giuseppe Terragni, Ico Parisi, curated by Roberta Lietti and Paolo Brambilla.

The exhibition aims to deepen the knowledge of a great Como artist through the study of his synergistic relationships with the most prominent architects of the time, also thanks to unpublished documents preserved in the Archives of the Pinacoteca di Como.

The exhibition is divided into three sections and traces the extensive pictorial and plastic work of Mario Radice (Como, 1898-1987), among the most complex figures in the panorama of early Italian abstractionism and a designer, theorist, art critic, exhibition curator and essayist. His artistic activity was not limited to pictorial production, but was enriched by design experiences, thanks in part to his collaboration with architect friends, including Giuseppe Terragni, Cesare Cattaneo and Ico Parisi. For the first time, therefore, the synergistic work between Radice and the three Como architects is highlighted, on display with period photographs, models, writings, preparatory drawings and studies on paper preserved in the archives of the Pinacoteca di Como and from the Mario Radice Fund.

The first section of the exhibition focuses on the relationship between Mario Radice and Cesare Cattaneo, and on their most significant work: the Camerlata Fountain. Conceived between 1934 and 1935 for the Camerlata square in Como, it was built the following year for the 6th Milan Triennale; demolished at the end of the exhibition in 1937, it would not be rebuilt in Como until 1960. The original model of this work, from the Cesare Cattaneo Archive in Cernobbio, can be admired in the exhibition, along with drawings, project studies, and photo-postcards.

In the second section, the relationship between Radice and Giuseppe Terragni is addressed, through the Casa sul lago per artista presented at the V Triennale di Milano in 1933, and the Casa del Fascio in Como, for which Radice had made two large bas-reliefs and eight frescoes between 1932 and 1936.

Finally, the third section presents the relationship between Radice and Ico Parisi, with color sketches of the frescoes of Casa Carcano in Maslianico and Casa Notari in Fino Mornasco, works created in 1950 that were both destroyed, as well as a blow-up of Radice at work and original photographs.

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Tickets: Full 4 euros, reduced 2 euros.

Image: Casa Bini (Monteolimpino, Como), 1952-53
Design by Ico Parisi with Gian Paolo Allevi. Mosaics by Mario Radice, sculpture by Francesco Somaini.

Mario Radice and the relationship with architect friends on display at the Como Art Gallery

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