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Dal 6 marzo al 29 giugno 2010
Complesso del Vittoriano di Roma

Una prestigiosa esposizione che per la prima volta mette in relazione le straordinarie innovazioni, attraverso cui gli Impressionisti rivoluzionarono la pittura tradizionale, con una comprensione più ampia della natura, della cultura e della modernizzazione del loro tempo. Oltre 170 opere tra dipinti, opere su carta e fotografie d’epoca, queste ultime mai esposte prima in Italia, ripercorrono l’evoluzione della rappresentazione della natura nella pittura francese dell’Ottocento, partendo dalle prime innovazioni ai canoni classici apportate dai pittori della Scuola di Barbizon, esplorando a fondo la rivoluzione degli Impressionisti, per arrivare al trionfo cromatico delle Ninfee di Monet.

La Mostra, che nasce sotto l’Alto Patronato del Presidente della Repubblica Italiana, è promossa dal Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, con la partecipazione del Comune di Roma - Assessorato alle Politiche Culturali e della Comunicazione –, della Regione Lazio – Presidenza e Assessorato alla Cultura, allo Spettacolo e allo Sport -, della Provincia di Roma – Presidenza e Assessorato alle Politiche culturali -, con il patrocinio del Senato della Repubblica, della Camera dei Deputati e del Ministero degli Affari Esteri. La rassegna è organizzata e realizzata da Comunicare Organizzando di Alessandro Nicosia.

Dal 25 febbraio al 6 giugno 2010
Milano, Palazzo Reale

Realizzata in collaborazione con il Leopold Museum di Vienna, promossa dal Comune di Milano, Assessorato alla Cultura, coprodotta e organizzata da Palazzo Reale e Skira Editore. Curata da Franz Smola, conservatore del museo austriaco, l’esposizione presenta circa 40 dipinti e opere su carta dell'artista Egon Schiele, accompagnati da altrettanti capolavori di Klimt, Kokoschka, Gerstl, Moser e vari altri protagonisti della cultura viennese del primo Novecento. “Egon Schiele e la Vienna del primo Novecento rivivono nelle sale di Palazzo Reale con la grande esposizione promossa dal Comune di Milano che pone al centro dell’attenzione una stagione della Mitteleuropa attraversata da un intenso fermento culturale e insieme dalle contraddizioni e dai conflitti che porteranno alla prima guerra mondiale – spiega l’assessore alla Cultura Massimiliano Finazzer Flory -. L’obiettivo è quello di restituire al pubblico la ricchezza di un’epoca irripetibile e di una città-simbolo, Vienna, che in quegli anni rappresenta il tormentato destino del vecchio Continente". La mostra ricostruisce attorno alla figura di Schiele, il clima culturale di Vienna nei primi anni del XX secolo, partendo dalla fondazione della Secessione, attraversando le tendenze espressioniste della generazione successiva, fino al 1918, anno segnato dalla fine della prima guerra mondiale e dalla morte di Klimt e Schiele. Un breve ma intenso periodo, in cui Vienna, da centro della cultura mitteleuropea, diventa teatro di rovina della vecchia Europa. Si tratta di una rara occasione per ammirare, affiancati alle oltre quaranta grandi opere esposte di Schiele, tra cui i celeberrimi Donna inginocchiata in abito rosso, 1910, Moa, 1911, Autoritratto con alchechengi, 1912, Case con bucato colorato, 1914, Donna accovacciata con foulard verde, 1914, Nudo disteso, 1917, altri capolavori dell’Espressionismo austriaco come Ritratto di Henryka Cohn del 1908 di Richard Gerstl, Venere nella grotta del 1914 di Koloman Moser, Autoritratto con una mano che sfiora la guancia del 1918-1919 di Oskar Kokoschka, che per la prima volta sono riuniti in un progetto tanto ambizioso, quanto completo ed esaustivo. Schiele nasce nel 1890 a Tulln, una cittadina nei pressi di Vienna. A quell’epoca, la capitale asburgica conosce una straordinaria crescita demografica ed è un centro commerciale e culturale fiorente e di forte richiamo, riferimento per le menti più vivaci dell’impero. Il clima artistico è animato in quegli anni dallo scontro di correnti di stampo opposto e dall’affermarsi di spinte innovative quali, prima fra tutte, la Secessione fondata nel 1898, presieduta da Gustav Klimt. Essa riconosce all’arte il ruolo di forza propulsiva, ma anche di denuncia della realtà e, in quanto tale, di forza redentrice dal falso moralismo della società dominante. L’inclinazione a contenuti simbolici, così come l’abbandono della prospettiva, la centralità della figura umana incastonata in uno spazio piatto, sono elementi tipici dell’arte secessionista, ripresi ed estremizzati dall’Espressionismo. All’epoca della fondazione della Secessione, Schiele è solo un bambino, sebbene artisticamente dotato e con una forte passione per il disegno. Più tardi, studente dell’Accademia, il suo stile sembra aver già assorbito molto delle innovazioni della nuova corrente artistica, e in particolare della lezione di Klimt. Ma già un anno dopo queste relazioni sembrano essere state superate. In un lasso di tempo brevissimo, infatti, in Austria, e più propriamente a Vienna, si assiste allo sviluppo di controtendenze, ovvero di tendenze espressioniste, da parte di giovani artisti “dissidenti", primi tra tutti Schiele, Kokoschka, Gerstl, appartenenti alla generazione successiva a quella di Klimt, Moll, Moser e di altri secessionisti. Tutto ciò accade in un frangente storico significativo, cioè mentre l’Impero Asburgico avanza nel proprio declino, mettendo in crisi un mondo dalle fondamenta secolari. Non a caso, proprio in questo momento storico, mentre Freud scrive l’Interpretazione dei sogni, interrogandosi sulle pulsioni e le paure umane, a Vienna forti spinte creatrici demoliscono i saldi principi delle maggiori arti. Se in ambito musicale Schönberg introduce il metodo dodecafonico, dal punto di vista prettamente formale, il vincolo della linea netta e regolare tipico della Secessione, viene superato a favore di un tratto più libero e sciolto – si guardi l’ultimo Klimt – per diventare tormentato nei giovani Schiele e Kokoschka. Ciò che accomuna sotto la stessa etichetta i giovani artisti, è il rifiuto della tradizione, l’uso di un segno primitivo ed elementare, l’impiego antinaturalistico del colore, la tendenza alla deformazione e alla riduzione delle forme a pure sagome (particolarmente evidenti in Albin Egger-Lienz), un linguaggio pittorico convulso e corposo, come per Anton Kolig nelle cui opere, le campiture cromatiche e le costruzioni spaziali sono tipiche del Fauvismo e memori di Cézanne; o nelle opere di Herbert Boeckl, pittore del secondo Espressionismo, che sintetizza la poetica di Schiele e Kokoschka con quella cezanniana.

16 February – 13 June 2010
Fondazione Roma Museo - Via del Corso 320, Roma

For the first time in Italy Rome and Milan are set to pay tribute to the entire career of Edward Hopper (1882-1967), the 20th century’s most popular and best known American artist, with a major anthological exhibition that is the first of its kind in this country. A great success with the public in Palazzo Reale in Milan, with over 180 thousand visitors, the exhibition is hotly awaited in Rome, where it will open to the public on 16 February 2010 in the Museo Fondazione Roma, with some important new features: the arrival of other masterpieces from American museums, an original, engaging exhibition layout and a new edition of the catalogue. Promoted by the Fondazione Roma, the initial driving force behind the exhibition, thanks to the initiative of its Chairman Professor Emmanuele Francesco Maria Emanuele, the exhibition is produced with Comune di Milano – Cultura and Arthemisia Group in collaboration with the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Fondation de l’Hermitage in Lausanne. “Edward Hopper – explains Prof. Emmanuele Francesco Maria Emanuele, Chairman of the Fondazione Roma – is without a doubt one of the most important American artists of the twentieth century. Conveying original sentiments and sensations, he lent visibility to a vision of America which is less scintillating than the image afforded by traditional iconography in that period. It is an America with a less monumental, less attractive prospect: the America of everyday life, made up of apparently anonymous places, but which represents the vitality of the daily lives of the “middle class”, the class which, like it or not, represents the true force of that great nation. In the context of this America, in the throes of a period of intense growth, Hopper visualises the most bourgeois, intimate aspects. His original take on this, in line with his harsh personal vision, brings us urban and rural images of a season of the soul dominated by the solitude and alienation of man. It is therefore with immense pride that we present this exhibition in Rome, promoted by us in agreement with Comune di Milano and Arthemisia Group, and realised thanks to the partnership with the Whitney Museum of American Arts and the Fondazione dell’Hermitage in Lausanne. It is our hope that as well as representing the contribution of this great American artist, this event will bear further witness to our attention to the process of intercultural osmosis that has always inspired the work of the Fondazione Roma. The initiative confirms my belief that synergies of this kind – which enable public and private bodies to work together without either claiming precedence – can give rise to events of international standing. I am convinced that this is the way forward for a rational dissemination of culture, thus enabling more people to enjoy it”.

THE EXHIBITION
Exceptional new paintings in Rome Aside from the 160 works on show in the Milan exhibition, the Rome event will feature more of the artist’s great masterpieces, including the beautiful Self-Portrait of 1925-1930, as well as The Sheridan Theatre (1937), New York Interior (circa 1921), Seven A. M. (1948), and South Carolina Morning (1955) along with their preparatory drawings. These extraordinary paintings will complete the group of famous works exhibited in Milan, such as Summer Interior (1909), Pennsylvania Coal Town (1947), Morning Sun (1952), Second Story Sunlight (1960), A Woman in the Sun (1961) and the stunning Girlie Show (1941). Curated by Carter Foster, the exhibition explores the whole of Hopper’s oeuvre, and all the techniques used by an artist now viewed as a great master of the twentieth century. “STOP AND MOTION” Exhibition Design Thanks to the captivating layout designed by the team from Master IDEA, created for the occasion by IDEA Associazione Italiana Exhibition Designers and led by the architect Luca Cendali, visitors will be able to admire Hopper’s work in an entirely different and original way. The new design of the exhibition, determined by the Chairman of the Foundation Emmanuele F. M. Emanuele and specially designed for the Museo Fondazione Roma, aims to let visitors experience Hopper’s works as reconstructions of physical spaces, focusing above all on the architectural element. Visitors will make a breathtaking entrance, as access to the exhibition takes place through an atmospheric nocturnal setting, with a reconstruction inspired by the bar in the famous painting Nighthawks (1942). The entrance invites exhibition-goers to literally enter Hopper’s world and become part of the painting. This is perfectly in line with the artist’s poetics, which looked to the man in the street as the narrative subject of paintings. The entrance will also host related events during the exhibition. The show continues in this vein, with the focus on visitor interaction, thanks to the eye-catching, evocative settings that follow the chronological and thematic layout set out by the curator. The scenes captured on canvas by the artist will arouse visitors’ imagination and create a sensation of dilation of time, just like a cinematographic, theatrical or literary narrative. The layout, which is enhanced by lighting that accentuates the spatial/temporal dimension and a soundtrack featuring sounds inspired by the places in the paintings (the city, interiors, the countryside, the sea), accompanies Hopper’s artistic development and the context that characterised it, amplifying the flow of emotions generated by the paintings. This is a unique exhibition, an intensely involving experience that can be visited and revisited in the capital, a new and extraordinary event. Essays in the catalogue The Skira catalogue issued for the Rome event has also been updated. As well as the essays by Carter Foster, Carol Troyen, Sasha Nicholas, Goffredo Fofi, Demetrio Paparoni and Luigi Sampietro, it will also feature writings by Vittorio Sgarbi and Marco Di Capua, and forewords by the Chairman of Fondazione Roma, Emmanuele F.M. Emanuele; the Mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti; the City of Rome Councillor for Culture and Communications, Umberto Croppi; the Ambassador of the United States of America to Italy and San Marino, David H. Thorne, and Adam D. Weinberg, Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art. The artist Hopper was born and grew up in Nyack, a small town in New York State. He studied illustration for a short period, then painting at New York School of Art under legendary masters William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri. He visited Europe three times (from 1906 to 1907, in 1909 and 1910) and his experiences in Paris, above all, made a lasting mark on him: he remained a lifelong Francophile, even after settling permanently in New York in 1913. Despite his imposing physical presence – he was six foot two – he was famous for his reserve, and very rarely wrote or spoke about his work. He died at the age of 84 and his work enjoyed the esteem of critics and the public throughout his career, despite the success of the up-and-coming avant-garde movements, from Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. In 1948 the magazine “Look” named him one of America’s greatest artists; in 1950 the Whitney Museum dedicated an important retrospective to him, and in 1956 he appeared on the cover of “Time”. In 1967, the year of his death, he represented the United States at the prestigious Bienal di São Paulo. Since then Hopper’s work has been celebrated in numerous exhibitions and has inspired countless painters, poets and filmmakers. In a 1995 essay the great novelist John Updike paid an eloquent tribute to his “calm, silent, stoic, luminous, classic” works. The exhibition Edward Hopper’s career is closely linked to the Whitney Museum of American Art, which hosted various exhibitions of his works, from the first in 1920 at the Whitney Studio Club, to the memorable shows held in the museum in 1960, 1964 and 1980. Since 1968, thanks to the bequest of the artist’s widow Josephine, the Whitney has been home to his entire legacy: more than 3,000 works which include paintings, drawings and etchings. Curated by Carter Foster, the Whitney Museum curator who granted the loan of the largest nucleus of works, the exhibition, realized with the technical coordination of Carol Troyen, also boasts other important loans from the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York, the Terra Foundation for American Art in Chicago, the Columbus Museum of Art and for the Rome event, also the Newark Museum of New Jersey. Structured in seven sections according to chronological order and theme, the Italian exhibition covers Hopper’s entire oeuvre, from his education, to his years as a student in Paris, up to his “classic” and best-known period of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, closing with the large, intense images of his later years. The show explores all of the artist’s favourite techniques: oil, watercolour and etching, and devotes special attention to the fascinating relationship between his preparatory drawings and his paintings: a vital aspect of his work that up till now has not been greatly explored in the exhibitions dedicated to him. The first three sections: “Self Portraits”, “Education and Early Works. Hopper the Illustrator” and “Hopper in Paris”, present a group of promising self portraits, the works from his academic days and the light-filled sketches and works of his Paris period, such as the distinctive painting Soir Bleu (1914). The room dedicated to “Defining the Image: Hopper the Etcher”, with masterpieces such as Night Shadows (1921) and Evening Wind (1921), highlights his elegant technique and that “sense of the incredible potential of everyday life” that brought him great success and marked the start of a distinguished career. The section entitled “Hopper’s Method: from Sketch to Canvas”, which celebrates the artist’s extraordinary talent for drawing and explores his modus operandi, presents a significant set of preparatory drawings for paintings. Visitors will be able to admire the creative path behind The Sheridan Theatre (1937), a new addition for the Rome event, and those for Morning Sun (1952) and the earlier work New York Movie (1939). The sketches for the latter work clearly reveal how his female figure takes shape: starting out almost as a portrait of his wife Jo (his only model), the figure gradually evolves into the pensive usherette with film star looks standing in the movie theatre – one of the artist’s favourite subjects. This section shows how Hopper’s realism is often the result of an amalgamation of several images and situations captured at different times and places, not a simple reproduction from life. The exhibition also exceptionally includes Artist’s Ledger Book III, one of the famous ledgers he and his wife compiled, which contains sketches of many of his oil paintings. The rooms dedicated to “Hopper’s Eroticism” present some of his most significant images of women absorbed in contemplation, for the most part nude or in a state of undress, alone in interiors, as in the beautiful painting on show in Rome, New York Interior (circa 1921). Together with the works in the section “The Essence of the Artist: Time, Space and Memory” these works are a consummate representation of the artist’s aesthetic, his understated form of realism and above all his ability to reveal beauty in the most common subjects, often with a cinematographic slant that was much appreciated by the critics. Hopper has long been associated with atmospheric images of urban buildings and the people who inhabit them, but rather than skyscrapers – emblems of the aspirations of the jazz age – he preferred the dilapidated red façades of anonymous shops, and lesser-known bridges. Some of his favourite subjects are images of life in tranquil middle class apartments, often glimpsed from the window of a passing train, and settings like diners and movie theatres; images that have acquired iconic status, as in some of the famous masterpieces presented here: Cape Cod Sunset (1934), Second Story Sunlight (1960), A Woman in the Sun (1961), and on show in Rome for the first time, Seven A. M. (1948) and South Carolina Morning (1955). Hopper also painted some stunning watercolours during summers spent in Gloucester (Massachusetts), in Maine, and in Truro (Cape Cod) as of 1930. The sea rarely features in these paintings, which show sun-baked dunes, lighthouses and humble cottages, enlivened by sensuous contrasts of light and shade; paintings which always hint at a story yet leave the motivations of the protagonists unclear. The exhibition also features an important photographic, biographical and historical component, tracing American history from the 1920s to the 1960s: the Depression, the Kennedys, the boom years. It is an opportunity to have more insight into today’s global recession and Barack Obama’s America.