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Materials for the study of modern and contemporary graphics

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

The texts presented have been written in preparation for the final exam of the course Storia del disegno e della grafica, held in the academic year 2020-2021 and entitled Contaminazioni semantiche tra disegni e stampe in Mantegna, Parmigianino, Passerotti: aspetti della poetica, dello stile e del collezionismo. By means of essays the students had the possibility to follow their own individual interests, investigating a topic of their choice that in some ways they considered related to the disciplines of the history of drawing and graphics.

RADICAL MUSEOLOGY_Principles and practices of ‘dialectical contemporaneity’

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Starting from Claire Bishop’s research, expressed in Radical Museology, this text aims to analyze the curatorial approaches pursued by the directors of the Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), the Reina Sofia (Madrid) and the MSUM (Ljubljana). Exploring their relation with the local communities, the text reflects upon the museum’s role in our time.

The arches of San Giacomo Maggiore: historical-artistic coordinates and protection

Beatrice Cannì — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

This research examines the arches erected between 1282 and 1290 on the left side of the church of San Giacomo Maggiore in Bologna. At first, workers linked to the Byzantine art of northern Italy were involved in the construction, but in the 14th century they were replaced by local artists. A renewed documentary investigation carried out in the archives of the Bologna Superintendency has uncovered some critical issues regarding protection.

Antichrist imagery in Anglo-French illustrated Apocalypses from the thirteenth to the fourteenth century

Alessandro Paolo Lena — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

The analysis of Antichrist imagery in Anglo-French Apocalypse manuscripts from the thirteenth to the fourteenth century shows the power of visual exegesis in medieval apocalyptic tradition. Based on Berengaudus’ commentary, such imagery presents Antichrist either as a beast or as a human figure, revealing how the medieval world envisioned the final opponent of Christ.

Giuseppe Maria Mitelli and the private commission

Anna Di Vita — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

This article aims to provide some initial leads for a re-reading of Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, a Bolognese artist known mainly for his ‘informative’ engravings. In particular the contribution analyzes the links that the artist managed to weave with some patrons, who appear as clients of his works or as dedicatees.

Pseudo Vitali, namely Giacomo Monticelli? Activity and hypotheses about the identification of an important figure in Bolognese Still-life

Arianna Manes — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Still life painting, as is well known, is characterised by a scarcity of historiographic information. This makes the work of Art historians difficult, as they are often confronted with paintings lacking autorship. This is the case study of Pseudo Vitali, discussed in this article in the light of new evidence including his possible identity as Giacomo Monticelli.

Pietro Fancelli. The preparatory drawing for Alessandro e Timoteo

Alessandra Lisbona — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

The article is dedicated to Pietro Fancelli’s work. It has been taking shape through a progressive reevaluation of the artist’s career since the beginning of the twentieth century with the studies on the seventeenth century in Bologna by Renato Roli until the latest papers by Angelo Mazza. Besides, the essential reference to the manuscript written by Fancelli, has allowed to link the preparatory drawing representing Alessandro e Timoteo to the much praised curtain which has been lost.

Gian Maria Tosatti’s environmental installations as experiential devices

Angelica Bertoli — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

The projects of Gian Maria Tosatti (Rome, 1980) are characterized by a trans-disciplinary aspect that questions the possible connections between the presence of the object, the space-time dimension in which it is inserted and the viewer. Environmental installations take shape, combining the constructive gesture of the artist with the active experience of the viewer.

“To give a new name to something that has always existed”: language as architecture in Riccardo Benassi’s work

Francesca De Zotti — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

This paper intends to focus on Riccardo Benassi's artistic research, analysing the role of language in his works and the different expressions through which it is presented, from the more conceptual dimension of neologism to its expanded form in architectural and public space and in the video essay.

Betty Danon’s work of art in the 1970s

Olimpia Di Domenico — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

This paper shows the reconstruction of Betty Danon’s work of art, from the beginnings of her career to the 1970s, starting from the documents in her archive stored at the Archivio del ’900 of Mart – Museum of modern and contemporary art in Rovereto (Italy).

A museographic adventure of the 1980s: the Museo civico medievale of Bologna

Francesco Zagnoni — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

This paper aims to reconstruct the events that led to the foundation of Bologna’s Museo civico medievale and to analyse its display, which was projected in just three months in 1985. In fact, some museological principles, deeply rooted in the contemporary Bolognese culture, could be applied on that occasion, for instance the significance given to the context in the fruition of the work of art.