This year, on the occasion of Frieze Viewing Room, Mazzoleni is delighted to present a project which highlights the complexity and artistic experimentation of Twentieth century Italian art through different generations of artists.
The early part of the century was defined by the creation of various key avant-garde movements such as Futurism, which undoubtedly dominated the Italian artistic scene. A pioneer of this major movement, Giacomo Balla (1871–1958) embraced its principles and aesthetics, which he expressed through a new representation of modernity encompassing the triumph of new technology and rejecting academic conformism.
In the aftermath of the First World War, many artists returned to realism which recalled Italian Classical grandeur. Whilst it was a major source of inspiration, their artistic expression also retained an enigmatic quality. This new artistic language resulted from a group of artists associated with the Roman magazine Valori Plastici, founded in 1918. Carlo Carrà (1881–1966), Giorgio de Chirico (1888–1978), Alberto Savinio (1891–1952), and Giorgio Morandi (1890–1964) all contributed to the publication as spokesmen of the metaphysical movement, precursor to the European Magic Realism movement, of which one of its main exponent was Felice Casorati (1883–1963).
The legacy of their art had a profound influence on other European movements such as Surrealism among others.
Italian artists of the Post-war period shared a ground-breaking approach to painting, experimenting with new techniques and materials. They became interested in the study of colours, monochromes, surfaces, and unorthodox materials. Propelling a radical innovation in the way they used media, they saw the canvas as a medium far too restrainting for their art. Alberto Burri (1915–1995) expressed this transformation through violent manipulations of rough materials, Lucio Fontana (1899–1968) with slashes and holes which perforated the canvas opening a new dimension, and Enrico Castellani (1930–2017) and Agostino Bonalumi (1935–2013) by insertions protruding through the canvas resulting in movement and vibration.
A final focus on Art Informel evokes the confidence and creative energy of post-war Europe. Underlining the deep transformation of the international art scene of the 1950s and 1960s, the selection features the innovative language of Hisao Domoto, Toshimitsu Imai, Hans Hartung, Georges Mathieu, Jean-Paul Riopelle and Pierre Soulages.