Visions of Hell: Doré, Rauschenberg and Brand's illustrations for Dante's Comedy on display in Rovigo

From February 28 to June 28, 2020, Palazzo Roncale in Rovigo is hosting the exhibition Visions of Hell. Doré, Rauschenberg, Brand, an exhibition devoted to illustrations of Dante’s Inferno by three great artists, one per century: Gustave Doré (Strasbourg, 1832 - Paris, 1883), Robert Rauschenberg (Port Arthur, 1925 - Captiva Island, 2008) and Brigitte Brand (Rastalt, 1955). In particular, audiences will see the entire corpus of Doré’s 75 plates of Dante’s Inferno, Rauschenberg’s 1958-1960 images of Dante’s Inferno, and German artist Brand’s illustrations done with today’s eyes and sensibilities. The exhibition is curated by Alessia Vedova, Mauro Carrera, Barbara Codogno and Virginia Baradel.

“Gustave Dorè (present in the exhibition with plates from a large collection in Parma) succeeded in the feat of representing in graphic signs and forms what Dante’s verses expressed in one of the highest poetic works of all time,” says Alessia Vedova. “And it is precisely the illustrations made for Inferno that are his true masterpiece so much so that they have become part of the collective imagination.” Théophile Gautier, a contemporary of his, wrote that Doré knew “how to see things from their bizarre, imaginative, mysterious angle ... ” and that he “possessed a visionary eye that knows how to release the secret and singular side of nature.” Rauschenberg, on the other hand, chose the technique of carryover drawing(transfer drawing) for his illustrations of the Divine Comedy, combining his drawings and watercolors with images transferred from the pages of glossy magazines. Rauschenberg, writes Barbara Codogno “brings Inferno to the surface, contextualizing it in a contemporary dimension. Indeed, the source images used by Rauschenberg relate postwar American political life and social soul to Dante’s epic narrative, both united by an inescapable descent into hell.” The plates of Dante’s Inferno exhibited in Rovigo are part of the print run that Rauschenberg authorized to gallery owner Lucio Amelio. The folder intended for this exhibition was the famous gallerist’s personal one.

Alongside two celebrated cycles by Doré and Rauschenberg, the exhibition features a world premiere: Dante Alighieri’sInferno read with the sensibility of our times by German artist Brigitte Brand, who chose the Park of another river, the Sile, to create this monumental work of hers. “The powerful fascination of Dante’s Inferno,” writes Verginia Baradel, “led her to rework the baggage of her visual notes on the human Comedy, observed at different latitudes of the planet, with the places and figures of the first Canticle of the Poem. In transfiguration, small wandering signs in sulfurous and swirling spaces seem to narrate the events and protagonists of the cantos, now lifted by waves of color, now flanked by iconic quotations related to everyday life.”

The exhibition also intends to expand to other testimonies, underscoring the fascination of Comedy throughout the centuries up to contemporary forms of expression. From the Accademia dei Concordi and the Library of the Episcopal Seminary of Rovigo some precious, ancient editions of the Comedy have been granted to the exhibition, while a space will be reserved for the original volume L’Inferno di Dante. A Natural History (Mondadori, 2010) illustrated and commented on by Patrick Waterhouse and Walter Hutton, two young artists in residence at Fabrica, Benetton’s creative workshop. There will also be a focus on the 1949 L’Inferno di Topolino project, drawn by Angelo Bioletto and scripted by Guido Martina in Dantean tercets. All this is to emphasize how Dante’s Comedy continues to fascinate, whatever the artistic expression or latitude, in the original version or in the most diverse “reinterpretations.”

Pictured: Gustave Doré: Divine Comedy, Inferno canto XIX, The poets stop to talk with Nicholas III

Visions of Hell: Doré, Rauschenberg and Brand's illustrations for Dante's Comedy on display in Rovigo

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