(Dec. 2) According to the French painter Gustave Courbet (1819 -1877), Realism – the artistic movement he led – did not necessarily meant “mimicry”, but “to translate customs, ideas, appearance of your time, highlighting its specific individuality.” To this artistic movement is dedicated to the international exhibition “Realisme. La Symphonie des contraires “, presented by the Fondation Pierre Arnaud of Lens, in the canton of Valais, from December 20 to April 20. The exhibition – organized in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in Zurich – includes a section with seven Italian works, among which “The worker” by Mario Sironi and “The injured worker” by Carlo Montarsolo, belonging to the Farnesina Collection of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The aim of the exhibition is to show the fundamental ambivalence of pictorial realism which constantly oscillates between idealism and naturalism, challenge and response, modernity and melancholy. Works of Gustave Courbet, Albert Ernest Bieler Chavaz, Rudolf Schlichter, Mario Sironi, Gustave Jeanneret and André Derain illustrate the different tones of this movement. (red)
