Parma, an exhibition on alternative media to white paper for printing at the Pilotta

The Fondazione Museo Bodoniano, in collaboration with the Complesso monumentale della Pilotta di Parma, presents Not Only Paper White, an innovative exhibition dedicated to the lesser-known printing media that have accompanied the history of typography and graphic design. Curated by Andrea De Pasquale, the Foundation’s scientific director, the exhibition will be open to the public from Nov. 17, 2024 to Jan. 26, 2025, and offers a journey through the history of white paper, the printing medium par excellence. The Bodonian collection preserved in the Palatine Library boasts numerous editions printed by the great Saluzzo printer on different types of paper, on parchment and on silk. Drawing from this variety, it is intended to more widely enhance what is preserved in the Pilotta Monumental Complex by exhibiting a selection of printed volumes, from the earliest typographic products (the incunabula born between 1450 and 1500) to those of the mid-nineteenth century, made on various types of paper as well as supports other than it, such as parchment, silk, and wood. The interest in the collection of editions on parchment finds in the Palatine Library one of its most significant examples, as evidenced by the fund owned, unique for the quantity and rarity of some pieces, in the panorama of Italian libraries, the result of different origins and distinct provenances. The exhibition itinerary is divided into four sections, highlighted by as many explanatory panels as the print media taken into consideration:

• Parchment: from incunabula to nineteenth-century editions (here the typography also imitates the manuscript in the support);

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• Silk, used by Giambattista Bodoni for some very rare specimens;

• Colored paper, by hand and colored in the paste;

• Wood, in Count Stefano Sanvitale’s experiments in his Album de’ tentativi sù fogli lignei (1830).

The collecting activity of the writer Bartolomeo Gamba (Bassano del Grappa, 1766 - Venice, 1841) and other bibliophiles, also well documented within the Bodonian collection, represents the search toward specimens printed on papers of unusual colors. From the most common light blue to green, yellow and pink, the mounts were obtained by coloring the rag pulp used in papermaking. The interest led numerous printers to produce editions on special papers in very limited runs, sometimes even in single copies, reserved for special occasions, such as wedding gifts. The exhibition is made possible by contributions from the Fondazione Cariparma, Fondazione Monte Parma and the Ministry of Culture.

Practical information

Hours: Tuesday-Sunday from 10.30 a.m. to 7 p.m. (last admission 6 p.m.). Monday closed

Special openings and closings:

Monday, Jan. 6 open, Tuesday, Jan. 7 closed

Monday, Jan. 13 open, Tuesday, Jan. 14 closed

Parma, an exhibition on alternative media to white paper for printing at the Pilotta

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