Mar. 1 – The great Italian masters of the art graphics by the National Institute for Graphics in Rome, which houses the largest public collection of engraved matrices in the world, are on display from tomorrow until May 12 in Chiasso’s m.a.x.museo, in Switzerland. The exhibition presents works spanning from the Renaissance to the twentieth century: “From Marcantonio Raimondi to Carla Accardi.” The exhibition’s aim is to present the evolution of techniques for engraving matrices: from the incisive tract with a burin to etching, drypoint and aquatint in their many forms. The selection of 42 matrices, in some cases accompanied by prints, wants to document the works of artists as significant as Marcantonio Raimondi (1480 ca.-1534) with the hunting of lions, and Federico Barocci (1535-1612) with the masterpiece of the Annunciation, loved and studied by Giorgio Morandi. For the 17th century, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-1665) and Salvator Rosa (1615-1673) are the center of attention to etchings. Salvator Rosa will also be the subject of a dedicated exhibition in the 2013-2014 winter at the National Institute for Graphics in Rome. The 18th century is put into focus by Giambattista Piranesi (1720-1778), who renewed the image of Rome; while the 19th century focuses on the engraving technique to reproduce past masterpieces, especially Giovanni Volpato (1735-1803) and Giovanni Folo (1764-1836) who brought back to life Canova’s works. This sector continues its critical success with Alessandro Porretti (1838-1880). We then move on to Filippo Palizzi’s realism (1818-1899) and Raffaele Spinelli (active in intaglio in the period 1900-1910). The 20th century opened with arrays by Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), Capogrossi (1900-1972), Pietro Consagra (1920-2005), Fausto Melotti (1901-1986), Piero Dorazio (1927-2005), Giulio Turcato (1912-1995) and Carla Accardi (1924), among the first women to practice the technique. All of the aforementioned artists document the evolution of engraving techniques, and are a testimony to past Italian technological innovation, especially that of the popular Renzo Romero press shop in Rome.
