Filippo de Pisis and Robert Mapplethorpe: A Distant Conversation

The Currier Museum of Art announces a new exhibition that pairs the work of Filippo de Pisis (Italian, 1896–1956) and Robert Mapplethorpe (American, 1946–1989) as part of its Distant Conversations series. Following the successful 2023 exhibition that combined the work of Ella Walker and Betty Woodman, the Currier launches a new two-person show highlighting the elective affinities between the Italian 20th-century master, Filippo de Pisis (born Luigi Filippo Tibertelli), and one of the most influential American fine arts photographers of his generation, Robert Mapplethorpe. The two artists never met in real life and yet their work reveals astonishing similarities. Filippo de Pisis and Robert Mapplethorpe: A Distant Conversation unveils these correspondences for the first time, providing American audiences with an opportunity to discover the work of one of the most prolific Italian artists of the 20th century and to revisit Mapplethorpe’s photographic oeuvre from a new perspective. In addition, this is the first retrospective exhibition of de Pisis in the US.

“I was working separately on de Pisis and Mapplethorpe when I started realizing that there were many connections between the two,” explains the exhibition’s curator, Lorenzo Fusi. “I believe that these similarities are rooted in the commonality of their art-historical references and lived experience of the world. As an Italian curator,” Fusi continues, “I felt that it was my responsibility to introduce at some point in our program the work of an often overlooked Italian artist. De Pisis represents the perfect example of a household name in Italy that is still underrecognized abroad, particularly in the United States. Pairing his work with Mapplethorpe’s feels exciting, fresh, relevant, and poetic.”

As a result of this serendipitous discovery, Fusi mined the archives and oeuvre of the two artists for over a year, discovering endless examples that corroborated his initial hypothesis. The exhibition at the Currier Museum presents only a selection of the many pairings devised over time by the curator.

While Mapplethorpe’s photographs have been extensively exhibited in the US and internationally, this exhibition represents the first comprehensive retrospective of de Pisis’s work in the Americas. His first and last US solo exhibition took place in a New York City gallery in 1947. The sold-out show only focused on his Parisian en-plein-air views. In 1949, four of his artworks were included in the seminal survey entitled Twentieth Century Italian Art, organized by the MoMA and curated by James Thrall Soby and Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Seventy-five years later, the Currier brings together 42 artworks by the artist, between paintings and works on paper, in what is effectively the largest de Pisis exhibition ever staged on US soil. His artworks will be displayed in tandem with 38 photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe lent directly by the artist’s Foundation (mapplethorpe.org) that, together with the Associazione per Filippo de Pisis (filippodepisis.org), has supported this cultural initiative since its inception.

The exhibition is organized thematically, but the display follows the rhythm and internal logic of the images, alternating various genres including still lifes, portraiture, nudes, flowers, and references to Classicism and Western art history. The associated program of public and educational events at the Currier Museum will focus on studio practice and the creation of inner worlds utilizing artmaking. The details of the program will be announced on the museum’s website.

This exhibition is generously supported by Jay Surdukowski. Additional support by the Kimon and Anne Zachos Exhibition Fund.