Venice 1948-1986: Photographs from ArchivioArte Fondazione Modena
February 5-May 21, 2006
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
701 Dorsoduro
30123 Venice, ITALY
Phone 39 041 2405411
Fax 39 041 5206885
Email info@guggenheim-venice.it
www.guggenheim-venice.it
Venice 1948-1986: The Art Scene. Photographs from the ArchivioArte Fondazione Modena, curated by Luca Massimo Barbero presents unpublished and remarkable photographs on the artistic milieu of the Venice Biennale from 1948 to 1986, with artists such as Picasso, Mattisse, Dalí, Vedova, Fontana, and Rauschenberg. In their time, these photographs were featured in magazines such as Time and Life. Nowadays, this photo-reportage forms a remarkable contribution to the history of postwar culture.
The exhibition features over 150 photographs selected from 12,000 negatives acquired by the ArchivioArte Fondazionea new project undertaken by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modenafrom the Venetian photographic agency Cameraphoto. The ArchivioArteFondazione gathers unpublished correspondence, photographs, and personal archives of artists with the purpose of making them available to the public, thus becoming a center for academic study and scholarly consultation.
The photographs offer an opportunity to art historians and students alike as documents of key moments in the history of art, such as the 1964 exhibition of American painters (Robert Rauschenberg, Jim Dine, Claes Oldenburg, Jasper Johns, Frank Stella and John Chamberlain) at the former American Consulate in Venicea critically important show which informed the development of art in subsequent years and helped shape the response to Pop Art. These photographs are historical texts, exact testimonies and records of the works exhibited at the Biennale of unique collateral events, such as that of George Mathieu painting his Battle of Lepanto at the Galleria del Cavallino in the fall of 1959.
Venice 1948-1986: The Art Scene is served by a 300-page volume documenting 900 images and expanding upon the content of the exhibition. The account of the exciting times chronicled in the volume will provide the opportunity to relive or rediscover the art scene from the post-war period to 1980s. The fashion and styles of the times add another level of comprehension to the images, which were intended, particularly during the 1950s and 1960s, to illustrate a world rapidly changing thanks in part to avant-garde art. Such images depicting the fashions of the times can be witty, such as that of the model peering into one of Fontana’s Spatial Concepts, or that of Giacometti staring at a model distracted by his elongated sculptures, or that of Yayoi Kusama surrounded by the translucent spheres of her Narcissus Garden.
Venice 1948-1986: The Art Scene is the fifth collaboration between the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio of Modena and the first to be held in Venice.
Venice 1948-1986: The Art Scene.
Photographs from the ArchivioArte Fondazione Modena
February 5 May 21, 2006
Opening hours: daily 10 am to 6 pm
Closed on Tuesday
Entrance: discounted for seniors and students, free 0-12 years
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
701 Dorsoduro
30123 Venice
ITALY
Phone 39 041 2405411
Fax 39 041 5206885
Email info@guggenheim-venice.it www.guggenheim-venice.it
Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena
Via Emilia Centro, 283
41100 Modena
Tel. 39 059 239888
Fax 39 059 238966 www.fondazione-crmo.it
e-mail: info@mostre.fondazione-crmo.it
Press Office:
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Tel. 39 0412405404; press@guggenheim-venice.it
Studio Esseci
Tel. 39 049 663499; info@studioesseci.net
Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena
Tel. 39 059 239888; stampa@mostre.fondazione-crmo.it
