“Donne. Corpo e immagine tra simbolo e rivoluzione” (Women. Body and Image – symbolic and revolutionary) An exhibition that illustrates the historic portrayal of women

The evolution of the female image as featured in creative works from the endof the 19^th century through to modern times 

at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Rome

24 January – 13 October 2019

Rome, 23 January 2019: Whether seen as an object to admire, portrayed as an angel or a temptress, or as a mysterious subject questioning her own very idenitity or as someone who represents the protest movement of the 1960s, DONNE. Corpo e immagine tra simbolo e rivoluzione –the exhibition mounted at Rome’s Galleria d’Arte Moderna from 24 January to 13 October 2019 –is a reflection of the female figure as seen through the eyes of artists who have represented and celebrated women throughout the different artistic trends and cultural tendencies that prevailed from the late 19th century, throughout the 20^th, and up to the present day.

Promoted by the Department for Cultural Growth – the Office for Cultural Heritage of “Roma Capitale”, in collaboration with Bologna’s Cineteca (film archives), and the Luce-Cinecittà Institute, the exhibition presents some 100 works comprising paintings, sculptures, graphics, photographs and videos, including some that have never before been seen and others that have not been publicly exhibited for many years.Drawn from the Capitoline’s collections of contemporary art, these pieces document how the world of women has always attracted artistic attention.

NB: For MIC Card holders, admission to the exhibition is free.

“Must women be naked to enter museums?” was the provocative, questioning slogan of one of America’s most famous collectives of feminist artists.A question that reflected an incontrovertible truth.

For centuries, in fact, the female image has been the subject of much creativity: the female muse as a form to study, a model of beauty, eroticism or disgust depending on whether the subject was either an inspirational muse, the fount of all sins or the exemplification of domestic talents and virginal motherhood.

Between the end of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th, the way women were represented hinged on a somewhat ambivalent oxymoron.On the one hand, they were depicted as an angelic image, an impalpable and ethereal figure or a pure, immaterial spirit and on the other hand, as a threatening temptress, the reason for sin and the cause of perdition. From Giulio Aristide Sartorio’s Le Vergini savie e le vergini stolte (Wise Virgins and Foolish Virgins), to thescantily dressed in provocative poses portrayed by artists in the Divisionist movement(Camillo Innocenti, La Sultana) followed by the like of Angelo Carosi’s L’angelo dei crisantemi (The Chrysanthemum Angel), women’s lives were suspended between being – at the same time - both a gentle nymph and a cruel seductress, Muse and Sphinx, much in the same way thatthey were described in the contemporary, symbolist and decadent literature of D’Annunzio and poets from north of the Alps, and the astounding cinematographic films that brought the first divas of the modern era to life on the silver screen.

The profound social and political changes that followed the end of World War 1 and the crisis in traditional values that ensued also brought about the first major break away from the established, collective imagination.

The social emancipation of women –from the first suffragette movements in Europe to women’s assertive entry into the world of work brought about by historical events – went hand-in-hand with the portrayal of women in the visual arts that was also affected by the contradictions in a changing society. The transformation of social dynamics was further impacted by Freudian theories – his The Interpretation of Dreams was published in 1900 – which meant the harmonious image of the traditional family was forever muddied and was instead shown as a jumble of impulses and conflicts.

In the series of portraits shown on the second floor of the exhibition, the face of Elisa, Giacomo Balla’s wife stands out.Shown as she turns to look at something or someone behind her, the iconic value of the image lays in the look in her eyes that changes from amazement into seduction and curiosity, thereby transforming the portrait of this young woman from an object to be admired into a subject full of mystery.

Figures reflected in mirrors can be seen to questioning themselves on their own identity, with enigmatic faces that remain impervious to their gaze, whilst realistic Expressionist nudes alternate with visions of a happy humanity in a timeless space.

The strong reference to the traditional Italian family as propagated by Fascism, together with a decline in the number of working women, served to underline and reaffirm the exclusionary role of women as mothers, which was reflected in the way they were depicted in many contemporary artistic works.Even so, that model, as depicted in much of the art produced in the 1930s and 40s, was often set aside even when portraying a similar subject in which the intimacy of the domestic walls became a place – and universe – marked by a cryptic existential solitude. (Antonietta Raphaël, Riflesso allo specchio – Reflections in the Mirror; Luigi Trifoglio, Maternità - Motherhood; Mario Mafai, Donne che si spogliano –Women undressing;Baccio Maria Bacci , Vecchie carte – Old Cards).

When women obtained the right to vote in 1946 – a victory won, in part, thanks to the participation of women in the War of Liberation (fought by the Italian Resistance movement in the latter part of WWII) it represented a radical turning point in Italian history.It was, however, only in the late 1960s that the struggle for equal rights led to a profoundly different way in which women perceived themselves, their potential, and the options available to them in the most disparate of spheres, art included..

Along with social protestation against traditional patriarchal models, there was also awareness of a new female identify which lay at the heart of exploratory work carried out by many artists (Tomaso Binga, Bacio indelebile – Indelible Kiss; Giosetta Fioroni, L’altra ego – The Other Ego).Even women’s preordained role as mothers went from being an obligatory choice to becoming the lynchpin of the debate on women’s freedom and her re-appropriation of her own body (Sissi, Nidi -Nests).

The exhibition will be enriched with video-installations, photographic and filmic documents drawn from films and newsreels provided by and arranged by the Cineteca of Bologna and the Archives of the Luce-Cinecittà Institute.One room in the exhibition will be used to show Giovanna Gagliardi’s film produced by the Luce Institute - Bellissima (2004) that uses historic documents from the Luce Archives as well as film clips, popular songs and interviews to provide a visual tale of the journey taken by women as they moved through the 20th century.

The last section of the exhibition - dedicated to the dynamics and relationships between the developments in contemporary art, women's emancipation and feminist struggles - presents documentary material from ARCHIVIA – The Archives Library Centre for Documents relating to Women –along with commentaries on performances and films by artists from that breakthrough period on loan from private collections, major museums and public institutions (Museo di Roma in Trastevere; Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia – the National film archives; Turin’s Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna; Bologna’s MAMbo – the Museum of Modern Art as well as the Mart – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Trento and Rovereto and the Tullia Denza Archives).

Dates are currently being programmed for a “Work of the Month” cycle that will run from March until the exhibition ends, aimed at introducing new works that will enrich visitors’ experience as they make their way along the museum trail.

Between April and October 2019, a series of interdisciplinary cultural initiatives will also be organised - meetings, readings, performances, presentations, screenings, musical and otherevenings - on the concepts and ideas covered by the exhibition. From spring 2019, GAM- the Galleria d'Arte Moderna will also launch, through its website and social networks, the #donneGAM competition, devised as a means with which to invite the public to post photographsthat show how the women in their own families shaped their family’s history.Images of grandmothers, mothers, sisters, companions, portrayed at home, work, school, or any of the places that touched on their lives, their activities and their meetings, thereby documenting the many stories of women of yesterday and today. All these photographs will be viewable by visitors to the exhibition by means of a monitor in a specially set up area.

Up until the end of February, works by Fausto Pirandello that are part of the Galleria d’Arte Moderna’s collection will feature in the various rooms of the Gallery along with a “special loan” made by Milan’s Museo del Novecento of his Il remo e la pala – 1933 (The Oar and the Shovel