Running Exhibition
March 2nd 2007 - July 29th 2007
"CÉZANNE A FIRENZE
Two Collectors and the 1910 Exhibition of Impressionism"
EXHIBITION INFORMATION
Place: Palazzo Strozzi,
Florence
Hours: every day 9 am - 8 pm; thursday till 11
pm
Entrance: full price € 10; reduced € 8.50 - 4.00
Information: +39 055 2645155
Reservations: Sigma C.S.C., tel. +39 055 2469600
Curatorship: Francesca Bardazzi e Carlo Sisi
Catalogue: Electa
Promoted by: Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze,
Soprintendenza Speciale per il Polo Museale Fiorentino, Galleria
d’Arte Moderna di Palazzo Pitti, Comune di Firenze
Press Office: Catola & Partners
WEB site: www.cezanneafirenze.it |
[Press Realease]
Florence – The exhibition Cézanne in Florence (2nd
March – 29th July 2007) has opened today at Palazzo Strozzi
with more than 100 masterpieces from the most famous international
collections. It aims at celebrating both the enigmatic genius
of
Paul Cézanne in the centenary of his death and the extraordinary
intellectual experience of two young farsighted American collectors
who lived in Florence, Egisto Paolo Fabbri and Charles Alexander
Loeser, who, between the 19th and 20th centuries, collected in
their rich homes in Florence about 50 paintings by the master
from Aix, hence greatly contributing to the success of a lone
experimenter and genius, disregarded during his lifetime by the
most important critics, but today recognised and worshipped as
“the father of modern painting”.
Under the high patronage of the President of the Italian Republic,
the exhibition (www.cezanneafirenze.it) is promoted, sponsored
and produced by the Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and organized
by the Fondazione Strozzi. The exhibition curators are Francesca
Bardazzi, a well-known scholar of Cézanne collections in
Italy, and Carlo Sisi, the former director of the Gallery of Modern
Art at Palazzo Pitti, and one of the utmost experts on that period.
The unique peculiarity of the exhibition Cézanne in Florence
lies in having gathered together for the first time the most noteworthy
works of the Fabbri’s and Loeser’s collections that,
before being scattered in the years between the two world wars,
were the most important in the world. Totally contrary to the
aesthetic tastes of the time, and even to the surprise of the
artist himself, Fabbri actually came to own 32 paintings by Cézanne
while Loeser 15. These collections contributed to making Cézanne
appreciated by the international community and encouraged the
artistic milieu of Florence towards avant-garde trends.
The exhibition offers therefore a double opportunity: on the one
hand, a unique occasion to admire together masterpieces otherwise
scattered to the four corners of the world; on the other, the
pleasure of rediscovering a cosmopolitan Florence and a refined
intellectual context, which included extraordinary personalities
such as Bernard Berenson, Vernon Lee, Edith Wharton and many other
scholars, artists and writers attracted here by their love for
culture and classical art.
More than twenty Cézannes are displayed in the exhibition,
among which the famous Madame Cézanne in a Red Armchair,
House on the Marne (a unique loan from the White House), The Orchard,
The Bathers and the Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee,
a copy of the work by Paolo Veronese bearing the same name, which
he painted in his early period. Cézanne’s copy had
been missing since 1945 and has now been found by the curator.
Around this core of works there are numerous paintings by Pissarro,
Van Gogh, Matisse, Sargent, Denis, Cassatt, Weir, La Farge, all
European and American artists with whom especially Fabbri was
in contact. The presence of works by contemporary Italian artists
is also an important point of reference: Fattori, Fabbri, Gordigiani,
Soffici, Andreotti, Rosso, Ghiglia, Rosai, etc.
The paintings come from both public institutions and private collections:
the White House, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the
Thyssen Bornemisza Collections, the National Gallery and the Royal
Academy in London, the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg, the
National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Detroit Institute of
Arts and the Galleries of Modern Art in Florence and Rome, etc.
The exhibition gives special emphasis to the figures of Fabbri
(heir of Florentine emigrants and a painter himself) and Loeser
(of German origins), whose families had made extraordinary fortunes
in the United States. One of Fabbri’s uncles was a partner
of the famous banker Pierpont Morgan.
Cézanne in Florence has been presented to the press by
Edoardo Speranza, Chairman of the Ente Cassa di Risparmio, the
mayor Leonardo Domenici and Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, Chairman of the
Fondazione Strozzi. Also Cristina Acidini, the Superintendent
of the Polo Museale Fiorentino, was present together with the
curators. The main sponsor is the Gruppo Banca CR Firenze. The
catalog is published by Electa. Because of its importance, this
exhibition has been included in the Project Magnifico, the integrated
communication and promotion system of the Italian Ministry for
Arts and Culture.
“The Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze”, said Speranza,
“thus confirms with this event its commitment to returning
Florence to its international role and sponsoring the quality
cultural events of the town. After the successful exhibitions
on the Renaissance (Botticelli and Filippino, Arnolfo di Cambio,
Leon Battista Alberti, Giambologna, Leonardo), the Ente Cassa
di Risparmio di Firenze now proposes to the visitors and scholars
an important historic-artistic event related to modern art. A
brand new initiative of undisputable appeal and scientific value,
the result of important collaborations.”
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