Parma show celebrates Renato Guttuso
Retrospective features his large-scale masterpieces
03 September, 15:34
(ANSA) - Parma, September 3 - An exhibition celebrating the
life and work of renowned 20th-centurty Italian artist Renato
Guttuso is opening shortly near the central city of Parma.
The retrospective, a foretaste of next year's celebrations
marking 100 years since his birth, will bring together 65 works
by Guttuso (1911-1987).Some little-known paintings will be featured but the exhibition also counts a number of the artist's masterpieces.
Among the most famous works on display are the large-scale La Spiaggia (The Beach), Il Comizio (The Meeting), Spes Contra Spem and Caffe Greco. The exhibition will provide visitors with an overview of his work, starting with some of his earliest, heartfelt still lifes, moving through his Expressionist Realism period and finally into his output of later years, when he returned to painting with a renewed vigour. Its four sections are intended to drawn out the artist's wide range of interests and beliefs. The first is a collection of portraits, entitled 'The Artist, his World, his Friends'. The second section looks at Guttuso's long running commitment to addressing harsh realities in 'Social Realism, the Realism of War, Work, Politics'.
The third stage is a miscellaneous category entitled 'Collective Life / Solitude, Entertainment, Allegorical Realism, Eros'.
Still lifes, landscapes and interiors are grouped together in the final section of the show. Guttuso was a leading figure in Italian life for over 50 years, committed to exploring the human condition, society and its myths through both his art and writing. Despite his activism and the political nature of his work, Guttuso was also a highly respected cultural figure, with close ties to many other artists and intellectuals. The exhibition documents this side of Guttuso with a celebrated portrait of the Italian author Alberto Moravia, a sculpture by the artist Giacomo Manzu, who later created Guttuso's funeral monument in Bagheria, and several collaborative works created jointly with musicians and poets, as well as artists. The exhibition at the Magnani Rocca Foundation in Parma opens on September 11 and runs until December 8.
photo: Caffe Greco.
