Piazza San Marco - Museo Correr - Il Correr di Carlo Scarpa 1953-1960

"It's all in the detail"

Museo Correr  

Il Correr di Carlo Scarpa 1953-1960

For the occasion of the 19th International Architecture Biennale the Museo Correr has put on an exhibition dedicated to the work of the  famous Venetian architect and designer Carlo Scarpa - entitled - Il Correr di Carlo Scarpa 1953-1960 - until October 19 - curated by - Chiara Squarcina and Andrea Bellieni, the exhibition brings Scarpa’s design display units - for the Correr - to life with period photos from the MUVE Archive and original pieces he designed for the museum - display cases, easels, supports, and joints - some of which are still in use today.  The exhibition showcases his unique blend of form and function, marked by his signature style and craftsmanship - becoming iconic examples of Italian postwar museography.

  Detail - Case on 'foot' for the Mariegola dei Calafati - 1952-53 

Production - Fabbri Zanon - Venice

Scarpa designed a sleek, wall-mounted wooden display case for important Venetian manuscripts, with a glazed front and top, and a unique central wooden support featuring elegant vertical stripes. This design, combining structure and beauty, also appeared in the Gallerie dell’Accademia. For the 16th-century Mariegola dei Calafati, he created a swiveling trapezoidal case of fine wood and plexiglass on an asymmetrical metal stand. These works reflect Scarpa’s inventive use of materials and his collaboration with skilled Venetian artisans like the Capovilla woodworkers and the blacksmiths Zanon.

Case on 'foot' for the Mariegola dei Calafati - 1952-53 -

Production - Fabbri Zanon - Venice

Wall Inclined Display Case - 1952-53 

Production - Falegnameria Capovilla - Venice

Detail - Case on 'foot' for the Mariegola dei Calafati - 1952-53 

Production - Fabbri Zanon - Venice

Carlo Scarpa’s 1959 Easel for Paintings, designed for the Quadreria Correr, is his most iconic museographic creation. Used in many later exhibitions, it masterfully combines precious wood and natural iron, with refined brass and wood inlays. Though structurally complex, the easel remains elegant and restrained, perfectly balancing function and form.

Easel for Paintings - 1959-1960

Production - Falegnameria Capovilla -  Fabbri Zanon -Venice

Overlooking Piazza San Marco

 Carlo Scarpa - Easel for Paintings -  front and back - 1959-1960

Andrea Bellunello - Madonna in Trono con Bambino 

tra San Giovanni Battista e San Tommaso - 1480ca.

co-curator - Chiara Squarcina -  Mariacristina Gribaudi - President MUVE  

co-curator - Andrea Bellieni

In the ornate Baroque setting of the Pisani Library - lined with carved wooden shelves and lit by a grand Murano chandelier - Scarpa introduced a bold modern contrast: four angled wooden display cases joined by iron supports. Their clean lines and subtle details, like stepped wood edges and laminated vertical supports, quietly echo the room’s craftsmanship while standing apart. Smaller versions carried this refined, functional style into other rooms for books, coins, and documents. The intervention reflects Scarpa’s design philosophy: a sensitive dialogue between past and present, where modern forms enhance, not overshadow, historical context.

Inclined Display Cases for the Pisani Library - 1952-1953

Inclined Display Cases for the Pisani Library - 1952-1953

Production - Falegnameria Capovilla - Venice

In the History and Civilization of Venice rooms, Scarpa designed striking all-glass display cases to hold original Venetian togas. Supported by half-height iron corner posts, the glass sheets are held by finely crafted brass clamps—both structural and decorative. Mostly quadrangular, with one hexagonal and one triangular case, they created a refined contrast with the full-length portraits of patricians wearing the same garments.

Hexagonal Showcase - 1952-1953

Production - Fabbri Zanon - Venice

Hexagonal Showcase -  detail - 1952-1953

 

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Venice - Peggy Guggenheim Collection - Maria Helena Viera da Silva - Anatomy of Space - Exhibition

“I think I’ve lived my entire life in labyrinths. It’s my way of seeing the world.”

Maria Helena Vieira da Silva

 Peggy Guggenheim Collection 

Maria Helena Viera da Silva - Anatomy of Space

At the Peggy Guggenheim Collection - Maria Helena Vieira da Silva: Anatomy of Space -  until September 15 - is a major solo exhibition dedicated to one of the most original artists of the 20th century - curated by -  Flavia Frigeri of the National Portrait Gallery - London.  Featuring about seventy works from top international museums and cultural institutions - including the Centre Pompidou, MoMA, Tate Modern - and others - the exhibition traces the evolution of Vieira da Silva’s unique visual language. It explores the relationship between abstraction and figuration in her work from the 1930s to the late 1980s, with a focus on her fascination with architectural space. The exhibition repositions her art away from its usual association with Art Informel, emphasizing her influences in Paris and Brazil, and her connections to both Peggy Guggenheim and Solomon R. Guggenheim.

The Card Game - Le Jeu de cartes - detail - 1937

Self-Portrait - 1930 + Portrait of Arpad - 1931

© Willy Maywald, Courtesy Jeanne Bucher Jaeger, Paris-Lisbon - courtesy Peggy Guggenheim Collection

“When you love and you’re a painter the model you love becomes more beautiful every day,”  

Arpad Szenes 

Born in Lisbon, Vieira da Silva - 1908 -1992 - trained in Lisbon and Paris. Her work merges tradition with modernity, often portraying labyrinthine spaces, chromatic rhythms, and fragmented perspectives. Pieces like The Tiled Room - 1935 - and Ballet Figure - 1948 - reveal her interest in dissolving the line between figure and background. She approached art as an extension of herself, with the studio becoming both her workspace and subject.  The exhibition begins with her symbiotic relationship with husband and fellow artist Arpad Szenes, followed by early works from the 1930s exploring skeletal architectural forms. 

 

Maria Helena Vieira da Silva and Arpad Szenes in their studio -  Paris - 1937

Works like Composition - 1936 - above -  and - Dance - 1938 - introduce themes of movement and strategy, echoed in her wartime pieces created during exile in Brazil. These include The Disaster - 1942 - and  - The Drowned  - 1938 -  reflecting the emotional toll of World War II.

 Composition - January 1936 + Composition - 1936

The Arena - 1950 + detail

Curator - Flavia Frigeri  and Karole Vail - director - Peggy Guggenheim Collection

Post-war, Vieira da Silva developed a more abstract style marked by complex, labyrinth-like structures and urban landscapes, as seen in Paris - the Night - 1951 - and Venetian Celebration - 1949 - above. Later works focus on public architecture and the interplay of internal and external space. 

Venetian Celebration - 1949

Checkmate - detail -  1949-50

The Sleep - 1969

© Willy Maywald, Courtesy Jeanne Bucher Jaeger, Paris-Lisbon - courtesy peggy guggenheim Collection 

"We paint at the same times, but each in our own studio. We go in together, we leave together. We lead the life of bank employees, at least in terms of regular working hours.”

Arpad Szenes 

Maria Helena Vieira da Silva in her studio -Paris - 1948

The final sections present her darker-toned paintings from the 1960s and the luminous White Compositions - above - underscoring the symbolic and expressive role of white in her oeuvre. The final room offers a mini-retrospective of Vieira da Silva’s career, united by the color white. Known for her mastery of vivid tones, Vieira da Silva saw white as timeless—expressing emotions beyond any season. In her later years, she embraced white almost exclusively, giving her work a deep, spiritual dimension.

Exhibition View  + Equity - 1966

 Press Breakfast

Peggy Guggenheim Collection - Terrace

 

 

 

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