Ravenna: Inauguration of the exhibition “The colours of an intellectual”
An exhibition dedicated to Alberto Martini, historian and art critic, which explores his collection and his connection with the cultural and artistic panorama of the twentieth century. Guided tours and conferences will enrich the exhibition, which also celebrates the 60th anniversary of his death.
Ravenna: Inauguration of the exhibition “The colours of an intellectual”.
The exhibition will be open until February 15 and delves into the figure of Alberto Martini (1931-1964), a Lombard historian and art critic, who adopted Ravenna, and whose archive, library and photographic collection is preserved in the library.
Martini, difficult to classify due to his versatility, he was an expert who ranged from ancient to contemporary art, a popularizer who explored new means of communication and a historian fascinated by art criticism. Graduated with Roberto Longhi and linked to the publisher Dino Fabbri, Martini contributed to the creation of “I Maestri del colore”, illustrated booklets of high scientific quality but accessible to all.
The exhibition, curated by Daniela Poggiali, also represents the opportunity to trace a brief history of a discipline, the history of art, which in our country has had interpreters of absolute importance and which has evolved in method and lexicon radically from its birth to today. The itinerary includes the fundamental editions of Giorgio Vasari and his imitators and continuators, from Filippo Baldinucci to Luigi Lanzi, and the innovative works of Giovan Battista Cavalcaselle and Giovanni Morelli, up to those of the founders of the history of art understood in the modern sense, Adolfo Venturi and Roberto Longhi.
On display it will be possible to admire one of the Classense incunabula with the Historia Naturalis by Pliny, one of the first authors to provide extensive information on the art and artists of antiquity.
The second part of the exhibition itinerary gives space to documents, volumes and photographs that tell of Martini's collaborations with many of the most important Italian art historians and artists and foreigners of the twentieth century including Francesco Arcangeli, Luciano Anceschi, Mina Gregori, Harold Acton, John Pope-Hennessy, Renato Guttuso, Mattia Moreni, Alberto Giacometti.
In the exhibition it will be possible to admire some drawings donated by Giacometti himself to Martini and lent by the family for this exhibition occasion. It will be on display also the album of drawings attributed to the Tuscan painter and designer Remigio Cantagallina (1582-1656) that Martini had the opportunity to see and study in Classense.
“The exhibition – says Silvia Masi, director of the Classense – allows us to enhance one of our author's collections and to connect the documents, photos, and volumes that belonged to Martini with the heritage already present in the library, establishing a relationship that allows us to better frame not only Martini's personality but also the cultural and historical-artistic panorama in which he had the opportunity to operate".
The exhibition also celebrates the 60th anniversary of Martini's death and includes a calendar of events, including conferences and free guided tours upon reservation. (tel. 0544.482112 informazioni@classense.ra.it) starting with the first one on Saturday 21 December at 11 am, followed by one on Saturday 11 January at 16.30 pm and one on Saturday 15 February at 11 am.
Exhibition opening hours: Monday 14-19pm, Tuesday to Saturday 9am-19pm, closed on Sundays and public holidays, Tuesday 24 and 31 December 10am-13pm. Free admission.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright La Milano
