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Spazialismo. Riccardo Licata and Venetian
Painting at the end of the 20th Century
The State Hermitage presents the exhibition of one of the trends of Italian
art of the second half of the 20th century - spazialismo.
Italian trend spazialismo (from Italian Spazio - space) is a tendency
in art that considers painting and sculpture as one type of art that unites
colour, sound, space, movement and time. Its origin is, first of all,
connected to the name of Lucia Fontana (1899 - 1968), native of Argentina
who moved to Paris in 1947.
Fontana appealed to art that should embrace contemporary science and technology;
in his works he used such materials as neon light, radio and television.
So in 1949 Fontana showed his Ambiente Spaziale (Spatial Environment)
performed in phosphorescent paint and illuminated by neon light. That
work was the first example of what later on became known as art of installation.
Later Fontana made works on canvas, to which he gave a common name Concetto
Spaziale (Spatial Conception), at the same time proceeding to make installations
with the use of light. The basis for Spatial Conception was dissection
of canvas with a razor in order to create actual spatial three-dimensional
perspective. In 1950 Fontana created a number of similar works by developing
idea of sculpture and interpreting it in his Spatial Conception.
Approximately 80 works by painters-spatialists are presented at the exhibition
in the Twelve-Column Room of the State Hermitage. Among them, besides
Lucia Fontana, there are Edmondo Bacci, Mario Deluigi, Ennio Finzi, Luciano
Gaspari, Bruna Gasparini, Virgilio Guidi, Gino Morandis, Saverio Rampin,
Tancredi, Vinicio Vianello. The most part of the exhibition is comprised
of works by Riccardo Licata.
Open bright colour traditional for the richest culture of the sunny Mediterranean,
graphic expressiveness neighbouring with symbolic abstract shapes reminiscent
of ancient letters are incarnated in the works of Italian painter Riccardo
Licata, which have been exhibited at the Hermitage for the first time.
Motifs of antique and Byzantine art are combined with ornamental pattern
of Northern European countries. Appealing to the heritage of the past
the painter is working by developing aesthetics and stylistics of abstract
expressionism that won over Western artistic stage of Italy during the post-war years.
The exhibition curator is Alexey Mitin, the research associate of the Department
of Western European Art of the State Hermitage.
More
First Visitors |
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At the exhibition in the Twelve-Column Hall |
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Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage
Museum
Faiti Salvadori, Consul General of Italy in St Petersburg
At the opening of the exhibition
Riccardo Licata
Catalogue of the exhibition
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