Island of San Giorgio Maggiore – The Arts of Giambattista Piranesi exhibition. From the vaporetto stop to the exhibition, The Arts of Giambattista Piranesi, from 28th August to 21st November 2010, arrows mark the way on the fondamenta. The exhibition, conceived by architect, Michele De Lucchi, illustrates the great Venetian artist’s multifaceted interests and style, the exhibition itinerary is divided into various sections on the many professions that Giambattista Piranesi exercised in the course of his career: etcher, archaeologist, engineer, antiquarian, architect and designer.
The Arts of Giambattista Piranesi exhibition. An etching from the Carceri d’Invenzione (circa 1761) series. Published in two different editions the Carceri or prisons are a masterpiece of 18th-century art. In this work Piranesi gives free reign to his visionary imagination. Indeed Romantic writers like Coleridge and De Quincey compared the “Prisons” to hallucinatory visions experienced in the delirium of a fever.
Seen at the preview of The Arts of Giambattista Piranesi exhibition. Architect, Michele De Lucchi, who conceived and designed the exhibition. The exhibition aims to be original, pioneering and thought-provoking, exactly in the spirit of Piranesi himself. In this sense De Lucchi’s exhibition designs plays a vital role. He has created a flexible and interactive itinerary: the framed prints are arranged on the walls of the rooms and on lecterns set on tables made of fine wood personally designed by the famous architect.
Seen at the preview of The Arts of Giambattista Piranesi exhibition. Factum Arte’s Adam Lowe explains how they made the series of specially made contemporary creations, which render Piranesi’s language, style and natural tendencies to cross over antique and modern formal repertories. The creations include reproduction of objects designed by Piranesi but never actually made, such as a vase, candelabrum, teapot, a chair, two tripods, an altar and a stunning fireplace.
The reproductuion vase. Factum Arte’s reproduction of the ancient vase in marble, made from the print below.
The original print. The original print from which the above vase from reproduced.
Seen at the preview of The Arts of Giambattista Piranesi exhibition. At the press conference, the secretary general of the Giorgio Cini Foundation, Pasquale Gagliardi, which owns most of the Piranesi prints, conducts the press confernce on his right, architect Michele De Lucchi and on his left, Factum Arte’s Adam Lowe.
The Coffee Pot. The Nickel plated coffee pot was made by Factum Arte from an etching by Giambattista Piranesi. An inspection of the language of design in the coffee pot reveals a close study of how natural forms evolve. The depiction of the tortoise is open to the accusations of illustrations that he leveled against the Greeks. The movement in the body of the pot form a natural shell to a stylized ridging and is closely based on the growth patterns of the shell. The subtle movements from this language to a modern treatment in the handle almost prefigures Art Deco design and roots of modernism.
Seen at the preview of The Arts of Giambattista Piranesi exhibition. Giambattista Piranesi historian, Professor John Wilton-Ely.
Seen at the preview of The Arts of Giambattista Piranesi exhibition. The director of the Institute of History of Art, Giuseppe Pavanello.
Seen at the preview of The Arts of Giambattista Piranesi exhibition. Architectural photographer, Gabriele Basilico whose thrity-two photographs of views of Rome are a personal homage to the great artist.
The Photographs. The thirty-two photographs by Gabriele Basilico of views of Rome are shown beside the identical thirty-two etchings by Giambattista Piranesi.
Above: the Teatro di Marcello in Rome.
Seen at the preview of The Arts of Giambattista Piranesi exhibition. Photographer, Marina Ballo Charmet who is showing her work Il Parco in the Italian Pavilion at the 12th International Biennale di Architettura.
