Treviso: Casa dei Carraresi - The Magic of India Exhibition

 

photograph courtesy The Magic of India

Treviso: Casa dei Carraresi - The Magic of India Exhibition. At the Casa dei Carraresi in Treviso, The Magic of India: from the Temple to the Court, Masterpieces of Indian Art exhibition, until May 31st 2014, is curated by Adriano Madaro, Renzo Freschi and Marilia Albanese. For the first time in Italy an exhibition dedicated to India covers the period from the 2nd millennium BC to the time of the Maharajas. Architectural elements, miniatures, photographs, everyday and ritual objects, costumes, textiles, jewels, statues and reliefs from important museums and private collections are displayed in recreations of their original settings.

Above: The Sultan Ala-ud-din Khilji, 1815/1820, miniature, hills of Punjab.

 

photograph by manfredi bellati

The Magic of India Exhibition - Press Conference. Curators, sponsors and dignitaries at the press conference. Holding a copy of her book Rosa Maria Cimino, Franco Ricca, director of the Museum of  the Arti Orientale in Turin, Anna Maria Quagliotti, co-curators Renzo Freschi and Adriano Madaro, sponsor and president of the Fondazione Cassamarca Dino De Poli, co-curator Marilia Albanese and Gianni Garatti president of the Treviso tourism consortium.

 

photograph by manfredi bellati

 Buddha with Two Bodhisattvas: Eastern India, Pala dynasty 10-11th C., Basalt.

Buddha Head: Northern India, Mathura Kushana dynasty, 3rd C., sandstone.

 

Renzo Freschi and Franco Ricca visit the exhibition, they are looking at Stupa Votive Reliquary, Gandhara region, 2-3rd C., rock crystal.

 

Co-curator Marilia Albanese.

 

Dakshina Kali: Kali, the “Black”, terrible form of Goddess, is standing on Shiva’s body, Northern India, 19th C., tempera on paper.

 

Krishna and The Shepardesses (Gopi): Northern India, Rajasthan, 18th C., pigment and gold leaf on cotton.  This work is also the cover of beautiful catalogue, The Magic of India: from the Temple to the Court, Masterpieces of Indian Art published by Edizioni Sigillvm.

 

The Magic of India: The architects of the Milanese studio AL14 Marco Sala, Giovanna Colombo and Gloria Zanardo, who curated the display. The exhibition is divided into two sections: “The Art of Classical India” and “The India of the Maharajas”. In Indian culture the two poles of the Temple and the Court are in no sense contradictory, and are not be seen in the typically Western dualistic terms of the sacred and the profane.

photograph courtesy The Magic of India

The Maharaja of Amar Singh II and a Concubine:           Northern India, southern Rajasthan, Mewar School, 1698-1710, tempera on paper. 

 

Female Torso: Central India, 10-11th C., sandstone.

 photograph by manfredi bellati

 The Maharaja Jaswant Singh with the Maharani: Northern India, Rajasthan, C.1880, oil on canvas.

 

 

 Magnificent Weaves: with Jain Procession Altar in the foreground.

 

  Detail of Lehenga, Ceremonial Skirt with Peacocks, Northern India, Rajasthan, silk and gold decoration.

 

Magnificent Weaves: Sushama Swarup curator of the Magnificent Weaves section, she is an expert in Indian culture, textiles and antique costumes from the Awadh region.

 

Images of a Bygone Age: Prints made from late 19th C. photographic glass plates.

Images of a Bygone Age: Prints made from late 19th C. photographic glass plates.

Phad, Painted Backdrop of the Wandering Minstrels, with the story of Pubuji: Northern India, Rajasthan, 19th C., painted cotton.

 

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Asti: D. Barbero1883 – Nougat and Chocolate Factory

Asti: D. Barbero1883 – Nougat and Chocolate Factory. In the center of Asti in the Monferrato region of Northen Italy is the D. Barbero 1883 nougat and chocolate factory, museum and shop. It was five generations ago in 1883 that Melchiorre Barbero first gained permission to produce the famous nougat "Torroni e Noasetti". Today as in the past, the typical Piedmontese crumbly type of nougat and the gianduja chocolates are a real treats for experts and sweet lovers. The nougat produced according to the old traditional recipe of the town of Asti has recently received the Italian brand DE.C.O. that is to say "Local Denomination of Origin". 

D. Barbero 1883 – The Museum.  In the museum Gianni Barbero (who runs the family business with his nephew Davide Maddaleno) explains the old machinery, the original documents and the old photos, which are treasured in the "Collection of Old Machinery for Chocolate Production".  The tour ends with a tasting of special products.

 

D. Barbero 1883 - The Shop: Torroncino Cream and Chocolate and Torroncino Cream are ideal to spread on bread, breadsticks and the taste is considerably exalted if spread on a cracker, pate brise and savory baked goods.

 

D. Barbero 1883 - The shop. Maria wraps up the chocolate goodies in the shop.

 

 D. Barbero1883 - The Shop. Chocolate covered Rubata Breadsticks, the Piedmontese breadsticks are covered with extra plain chocolate.

 

photograph by manfredi bellati

D. Barbero1883 – The Museum.  Advertising the company during the 38th Giro d’Italia, the annual bicycle stage race in 1955.

 

D. Barbero 1883 – The Museum.   In the early twentieth century, this antique custom made travelling suitcase housed the sample range.

D. Barbero 1883 - The shop. A reproduction of antique tin boxes holds various nougats and gianduiotti chocolates.

 

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Solighetto (Treviso): Villa Brandolini – Turbamenti della Forma - Valerio Bellati - Yasmin Brandolini d’Adda exhibition.

 

Turbamenti della Forma: Valerio Bellati – Untitled c. 1990.

Turbamenti della Forma:  Yasmin Brandolini d’Adda – Untitled c. 1996.

 

Solighetto (Treviso): Villa Brandolini – Turbamenti della Forma - Valerio Bellati - Yasmin Brandolini d’Adda exhibition. In the Prosecco hills in the province of Treviso, the beautiful retrospective exhibition Turbamenti della Forma, paintings by Valerio Bellati and Yasmin Brandolini d’Adda, curated by Corrado Castellani, until November 10 (open Fridays and Saturdays 16-19 and Sundays 10-12 16-19). Emotional Turmoil of the Form displays the abstract works of the late aristocrates, neighbours and friends, who exercised a significant influence in the artistic circles of Treviso. 

 

Villa Brandolini: Turbamenti della Forma exhibition - Valerio Bellati -Yasmin Brandolini d’Adda.   Count Sebastiano Brandolini d’Adda and Count Massimiliano Bellati, sons of the painters are photographed between the curator of the exhibition, Corrado Castellani. "In the last decades of the  twentieth century lived not far away from each other, two painters, educated and refined: Valerio Bellati and Yasmin Brandolini d'Adda.”  Said the curator Corrado Castellani. “The aristocrats, admired each other. Both had completed in their youth solid art studies, the first steps of a promising career, but both, because of the accidents of life had discontinued their artistic militancy, renewed with systematic concentration in later life. After living in the cultural crossroads of Venice and Milan, where they assimilated the excitement of the avant-garde movement, they retreated to the family seats of Premaor and Cison, in the hills of Treviso, and transfered their assimilated experiences into thoughtful personal journeys. Bellati directed towards the informal  and Brandolini d’Adda towards abstraction, they explored their art with absolute rigor and persuasion, not subject to the changes of ephemeral styles.” Castellani concludes.

 

Turbamenti della Forma:  Valerio Bellati – Untitled c. 1990.

 

Turbamenti della Forma: Yasmin Brandolini d’Adda – Untitled c. 1990.

 

Villa Brandolini: A view of the garden at Villa Brandolini in Solighetto, which also houses the soprano, Toti Dal Monte Museum.

Villa Bellati: At the reception following the opening of the exhibition Turbamenti della Forma - Valerio Bellati - Yasmin Brandolini d’Adda, Michelin starred local chef Gigetto cooks up a delicious  Mushroom Risotto.

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Venice: Island of San Giorgio Maggiore – Le Stanze del Vetro: Napoleone Martinuzzi Venini 1925-1931.

 

Photograph courtesy Le Stanze del Vetro 

Venice: Island of San Giorgio Maggiore – Le Stanze del Vetro: Napoleone Martinuzzi Venini 1925-1931.  Now on it’s third exhibition, the Stanze del Vetro, the beautiful new museum dedicated to glass on the magical Island of San Giorgio, that looks across the Bacino di San Marco towards the Piazza, the exhibition Napoleone Martinuzzi Venini 1925-1931 (until December 1st) curated by Marino Barovier. During his collaboration with Paolo Venini, Martinuzzi designed beautiful objects whose shapes were inspired by classical design, but also involved the use of innovative techniques and glass paste. The exhibition reconstructs his whole production chronologically: from elegant transparent blown glass to works with an unprecedented opaque texture, from the experiments with pulegoso glass (a semi-opaque or translucent glass with a rough surface due to tiny bubbles formed by using special ingredients) to pieces with deep, dense colors.

Above 1: a photograph of Napeoleone Martinuzzi besides a marble bas-reliefs for the Memorial to the Fallen of Murano, 1920s. Napoleone Martinuzzi, an artist held in high esteem by poet Gabriele d’Annunzio, became a partner of Paolo Venini in 1925. In his capacity as the artistic director of V.S.M. Venini & C. he designed marvelous objects until 1931. After devising elegant clear blown glass objects, the artist went on to explore previously unseen matter like bubble glass and opaque glass in intense and solid colors. In so doing Martinuzzi designed a wide repertoire of vases, cups, lights, and peculiar decorative objects like fruits, colored glass creatures and succulent plants, some of which were monumental in size.

Above 2: Napoleone Martinuzzi vases in red cased glass, green bubble glass, blue clear glass and succulent plant in blue bubble glass, Napoleone Martinuzzi for V.S.M.Venini & C., 1925-1930.

 

Napoleone Martinuzzi: Transparent Glass - 1925-1931. Transparent blown glass was a typical and almost exclusive product of Murano glassworks until about 1928, when the first opaque glass, that was soon to become extremely popular, was produced. Most of the glass designed by Napoleone Martinuzzi in his capacity as the Artistic Director of V.S.M. Venini & C. consisted of clear and transparent vases, cups and goblets, devised between 1925 and 1927. In his production he would mainly focus on volumes, and his items are often larger than the real-life model and/or feature open-mold ribbing, waists or applied glass-thread decoration. He also relied on ancient decoration techniques as meza stampaura and filigrana, which by the way earned him enthusiastic feedback at the 3rd Monza Biennale.

 

Napoleone Martinuzzi Venini 1925-1931. The around 200 works on display in the exhibition are representative of the most significant stages in the glass art of the ingenious sculptor from Murano. Many of these works were presented at the Venice Biennale from 1926 to 1930 and at major exhibitions of decorative arts, such as the Biennale and the Triennale in Monza. 1930 was a significant year in the history of Venini: thanks to Martinuzzi’s talent, the Venini production was noted for the singular richness of the works shown at these important exhibitions. They ranged from classical transparent pieces to a collection of pulegoso glass with an archaic feel, the striking aquariums, the brightly colored velato vases, the cacti and the colorful “bestiary”.

 

Napoleone Martinuzzi Venini 1925-1931. The exhibition also explores the relationship between Martinuzzi and the poet Gabriele d’Annunzio, who commissioned the Murano artist to make not only sculptures but also works in glass. To illustrate their special bond and the artistic vision shared by these two personalities, the exhibition includes a reconstruction of one of the rooms in the Vittoriale by stage designer Pierluigi Pizzi, with some of the most significant works that Martinuzzi designed for the poet. They include a bright pumpkin made of incamiciato glass (the glass is covered by a second thin layer of different colored glass), which Martinuzzi designed specially for D’Annunzio’s residence, a vase with large ribbed handles, a large basket with fruit, a transparent blue glass cup and an elephant made of red vitreous paste.

                          Photograph courtesy Le Stanze del Vetro                          

 

Napoleone Martinuzzi Venini 1925-1931. Other particularly interesting items in Martinuzzi’s production for Venini include the series of fruit and vegetables that he designed from 1926 on. They were based on natural models including poppy fruits and sprouts and common vegetables (tomatoes, onions etc.). 

 Photograph courtesy Le Stanze del Vetro

Napoleone Martinuzzi Venini 1925-1931. A personal interpretation of a theme fashionable in the late 1920s, were these works on a monumental scale and designed to be placed in public spaces as polychrome glass sculptures. One example is the succulent plant made of pulegoso glass, now in the Palazzo delle Poste, Bergamo. It  is displayed to illustrate the taste of an entire period. 

 

                                                                                                               Photograph courtesy Le Stanze del Vetro

Napoleone Martinuzzi Venini 1925-1931. The exhibition includes a selection of period photographs and original drawings both of glass pieces and some monumental glass sculptures, such as the “statue” of a Dancer (1928) and the succulent plants shown at the first Quadriennale d’Arte di Roma (1931).

Above: Succulent plant in black glass and in red glass paste, Napoleone Martinuzzi for V.S.M. Venini &  C. 1929-1930.

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