Alberto Savinio, Portrait of Fausto Bima, 1948, Oil on canvas, 57 x 70 cm | Courtesy Private collection, Turin
As – A journey on the wings of the portrait, from 1900 to today, comes to life on Lake Como by connecting the Manzonian shore with the Como one with its neoclassical villas.
To encourage the public to rediscover the face of the lake in all its complexity, from 20 July to 12 November the exhibition FACES Italian portrait painting in the 20th century displays the works of over sixty Italian artists from 1900 to today in two venues.
The Spazio Circolo di Bellano (in Lecco) and Villa del Balbianello, home of the FAI in Tremezzina (Como), which for the first time opens up to a contemporary art project, welcoming the itinerary curated by Luca Beatrice, conceived by Velasco Vitali and produced by ArchiViVitali, celebrate portrait painting between the twentieth century and the contemporary, between commissioning and free interpretation, through over sixty works that testify to the evolution of the portrait, underlining its historical and current importance.
Francesco Menzio, Portrait of Persico, 1930, Oil on canvas, 45 x 55 cm | Courtesy Private collection, Turin
“Throughout the history of art – comments Luca Beatrice – the portrait genre has covered social, political and cultural functions: it has shown power, beauty, importance, wealth and even idealized the common man. With the advent of photography, which quickly became the most widely used medium for portraiture, the 20th century marked a fundamental turning point. Artists begin to explore new approaches; many try to tell the character and emotional sphere of the subjects, others to express the relationship between painter and model. The increasingly strong interest in psychology, combined with the desire to break with the tradition of the past, leads these artists to make formal innovations that will change the way of representing people forever”.
Carol Rama, Untitled, 1950, Oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm | Photo: © Gabriele Gaidano Turin | Courtesy Galleria del Ponte, Turin © Carol Rama Archive, Turin
If the Spazio Circolo will be set up as a picture gallery, a large room where the portraits will become real presences in close dialogue with the visitor, at Villa del Balbianello the paintings will enrich the rooms adjacent to the Loggia and, integrated with the current collection of and prints, will amplify the beauty that makes this place special.
Masterpieces by Gaetano Previati, Giorgio De Chirico, Alberto Savinio, Mario Merz, Giosetta Fioroni, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Giulio Paolini, Luigi Ontani, Salvo, Mimmo Paladino, Sandro Chia, Francesco Vezzoli, just to name a few of the artists involved, weave a path that connects the coast of Lecco with that of Como: an invitation to discover two strongly representative places.