Villa Bardini hosts first Italian exhibition dedicated to revolutionary dancer Isadora Duncan

At Villa Bardini and Museo Stefano Bardini in Florence, the exhibition A passi di danza is on view until September 22, 2019. Isadora Duncan and the figurative arts in Italy between the 19th century and the avant-garde, the first Italian exhibition dedicated to the American dancer Isadora Duncan (San Francisco, 1877 - Nice, 1927) and her relationship with the Italian figurative arts.

A bond told through paintings, sculptures, documents, and unpublished photographs, for a total of about 170 pieces on view on the two floors of Villa Bardini and in a special section of the large sculptures at Museo Stefano Bardini.

Isadora Duncan revolutionized the academic theories of dance to arrive at a modern vision of the female body and its movement in space; this liberation of women’s bodies is combined with models drawn from archaeology and the classical world. The use of light dresses instead of tight corsets and dancing barefoot instead of chalk toes signified for her direct and energetic contact with the earth.
Part of the cultural world of the early twentieth century, she performed in Paris, Berlin, Munich, Trieste, and Rome, and had a strong connection with the city of Florence, thanks to her friendship with Eleonora Duse and the long stay of one of her companions, English stage designer Edward Gordon Craig.

Among the works on display, visitors can admire drawings and oils by Plinio Nomellini, bronzes by Romano Romanelli and Libero Andreotti, who portrayed her dancing in Parisian aristocratic salons or on the beach in Viareggio; also works by Rodin, Bourdelle, Stuck, Carrière, Zandomeneghi, Previati, Sartorio, Bistolfi, Baccarini, De Carolis, Chini, Cambellotti, Nonni, Boccioni, Depero, Severini, Casorati, Campigli, Sironi, Raphaël, and Gio Ponti follow one another for an overview of the figurative and decorative arts of that era.

On the occasion of the exhibition, the two parts that make up Plinio Nomellini’s work entitled Gioia can be seen reunited after 30 years.

The exhibition is curated by Maria Flora Giubilei and Carlo Sisi, in collaboration with Rossella Campana, Eleonora Barbara Nomellini and PatriziaVeroli, sponsored by Fondazione CR Firenze and Fondazione Parchi Monumentali Bardini e Peyron, under the patronage of the City of Florence, in collaboration with Museo Stefano Bardini.

For info: www.villabardini.it

Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Closed weekday Mondays.

Tickets: Full 10 euros, reduced 5 euros.

Pictured: a detail of Gioia by Plinio Nomellini.

Villa Bardini hosts first Italian exhibition dedicated to revolutionary dancer Isadora Duncan

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