Virginia Lapenta, Guicciardo Sassoli de’ Bianchi Strozzi and Xue Yi
Following its Italian venues at Villa Farnesina in Rome (16 June 2021 – 13 January 2022) and the Museo della Grafica in Pisa (7 April – 2 October 2022), the exhibition The Centenary Triptych: Leonardo 1919, Raphael 1920, Dante 1921 and Italian Genius at the Origins of Made in Italy embarked on a tour of China, thanks to the collaboration of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Beijing and the Italian Embassy in Beijing, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and of the Associazione Amici dell’Accademia dei Lincei. The Chinese tour opened on 31 July 2023 at Raffles City Beijing, in the presence of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Riccardo Guariglia, and then continued at the renowned Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing, where it remained open from 25 October to 23 November of the same year, recording almost 50,000 visitors in less than a month.
From 3 December 2023 to 7 January 2024 the exhibition was hosted by the Tianjin Art Museum, the principal museum of the city of Tianjin, historically linked to Italy through the presence of the former Italian Concession and its still-existing quarter. The display presented over 130 works including posters, magazines and wall materials, together with more than 150 period objects such as books, catalogues, advertisements, postcards and stamps, creating an exhibition event of great significance within the framework of cultural relations between Italy and China.
Taken as a whole, the exhibition set out to offer a broad view of how the centenaries of Leonardo, Raphael and Dante were received in art and advertising in the years following the First World War, with particular attention to the emergence, from the early twentieth century onwards, of a design sensibility that manifested itself not only in the artistic sphere but also in proto-design, understood in the broadest sense of the term. From graphics to advertising, from posters to designs for furniture and textiles, the exhibition told this story through works, books, magazines and iconographic materials spanning a period that runs from the early twentieth century to Futurism, on to the Biennali d’Arte Decorativa di Monza, whose first edition celebrated its centenary in 2023, and beyond, including the first artistic and industrial creations at the dawn of Made in Italy.
Starting from its version at Raffles City Beijing, the exhibition was arranged in three main sections, accompanied by two thematic itineraries dedicated to the “Origins of Made in Italy”, in which, alongside period magazines, objects and books, works by numerous protagonists of early twentieth-century Italian art from private collections were also displayed. Among these were Anselmo Bucci, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Felice Casorati, Arturo Ciacelli, Paola Consolo, Primo Conti, Giorgio de Chirico, Fortunato Depero, Antonio Donghi, Gerardo Dottori, Leonardo Dudreville, Lucio Fontana, Achille Funi, Giandante X, Giovanni Guerrini, Antonio Marasco, Virgilio Marchi, Alberto Martini, Cesare Monti, Mario Nannini, Plinio Nomellini, Piero Persicalli, Romolo Romani, Ottone Rosai, Luigi Russolo, Enrico Sacchetti, Federico Seneca, Gino Severini, Mario Sironi, Thayaht, Umberto Tirelli, Carlo Vitale and Adolfo Wildt. Particular prominence was also given to the series of postcards created by Ezio Anichini for the Dante centenary of 1921.
The exhibition formed part of the celebrations of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei dedicated to “The Triptych of Italian Genius. Leonardo 2019 Raphael 2020 Dante 2021”, to which the Lincei devoted more exhibition events than any other Italian cultural and museum institution. Starting from the thematic core and the works already shown at Villa Farnesina, the exhibition was specially rethought and expanded with new sections for China.
TECHNICAL DATA
Title: The Centenary Triptych: Leonardo 1919, Raphael 1920, Dante 1921 and Italian Genius at the Origins of Made in Italy
Venue: Tianjin Art Museum
Open to the public: 3 December 2023 – 7 January 2024
Organised by: Italian Embassy in Beijing, Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Beijing, Tianjin Art Museum
With the support of: Ministry of Culture, Associazione Amici dell’Accademia dei Lincei
Under the patronage of: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
Exhibition curated by: Virginia Lapenta, Guicciardo Sassoli de’ Bianchi Strozzi, Xue Yi
General coordination: Federico Roberto Antonelli, Caterina Feng, Mario Izzi, Virginia Lapenta, Guicciardo Sassoli de’ Bianchi Strozzi
Texts: Virginia Lapenta, Guicciardo Sassoli de’ Bianchi Strozzi
Technical partners: Arterìa, Art Defender Insurance
Lenders: Studio Guicciardo Sassoli Art Exhibitions & Archives, Studiolo Fine Art, Milan, 800/900 Art Studio, Lucca, Private collection, Bologna, Private collection, Milan–Portofino, Private collection, Rome–Vienna, Maria Rosaria Basileo, Rome
Archive footage: Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna – Archivio film, Archivio Storico Istituto Luce, Rome
Video: Villa Farnesina – Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
Catalogue: Virginia Lapenta, Guicciardo Sassoli de’ Bianchi Strozzi, Antonietta Yang, Su Xinxin
Press office: Antonietta Yang, Caterina Feng
Administration and accounting: Tiziana Carcich, Wang Leilei
With thanks to: Filippo and Martina Bacci di Capaci, Lorenzo Bellettini, Ginevra Cavina Boari – Studio Canonico Cavina Boari, Bologna–Rome, Stefano and Guido Cribiori, Daniele Crippa, Hu Xiaowei, Italy China Council Foundation, Academy Kinder College International School in Bologna, Livio Marianti, Museo del Parco, Portofino, Maria Antonia Tortorici Montaperto.
