FACING AMERICA: MARIO SCHIFANO 1960–65
January 26 - November 13, 2021
BETWEEN
For its 2021 season, the Center for Italian Modern Art (CIMA) focuses on the early career of painter Mario Schifano (1934–1998), looking at the years 1960–1965. A leading figure in Italian postwar and contemporary art, Schifano radically redefined the fundamental principles of painting through his multifaceted practice, as he marked the transition from postwar abstraction to the new figuration of the 1960s. Comprising works in various media, the exhibition focuses on the artist’s connections with the New York art scene, surveying the development from his so-called monochromes of the early 1960s to the figurative practice he developed between 1962 and 1965, when he incorporated a distinctive Pop imagery into his work. Through a selection of twenty works of arresting quality, the exhibition, curated by Francesco Guzzetti, Ph.D, independent scholar and curator and former CIMA fellow, aims to present Schifano as a pivotal figure who bridged Italian modern and contemporary art.
About Francesco Guzzetti:
Francesco Guzzetti, Ph.D, holds a doctoral degree in History of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. His field of expertise is postwar and contemporary Italian art, with special focus on the connections with international pop, post-minimalist and conceptual art in the 1960s and the 1970s. Francesco’s research has been supported by various pre and post-doctoral fellowships and grants by institutions like CUNY Graduate Center and the Center for Italian Modern Art in New York, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Harvard University, and Magazzino Italian Art Foundation in Cold Spring, NY. More recently, he has been the 2019-2020 post-doctoral fellow at the Drawing Institute at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York. He curated exhibitions and published several essays on numerous subjects in the history of modern and contemporary art. His current exhibition and research projects revolve especially around the drawing practice in Italian art in the 1970s, the work of Giuseppe Penone, and the practice of the Italian painter Mario Schifano.
Please note: following the Mayor’s Key to NYC Pass initiative, starting August 17 2021 we will be checking vaccination status for all employees and visitors. Visitors must show proof of at least one Covid-19 vaccination. This can be shown with the NYS Excelsior App, the NYC Covid Safe App, or the original vaccination card. No exceptions will be made.
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With the patronage of:
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- Schifano, Mario, ‘En plein air’, 1963, Enamel on paper laid down on two attached canvases 63 x 63 in (160 x 160 cm) Private Collection, Monaco. © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome © Archivio Mario Schifano.
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- Schifano, Mario, ‘Leonardo,’ 1963 Enamel on paper laid down on two attached canvases 78 3/4 x 78 3/4 in (200 x 200 cm) Private Collection. © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome © Archivio Mario Schifano.
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- Schifano, Mario, ‘A de Chirico,’ 1962, Enamel on paper laid down on canvas 66 7/8 x 59 in (170 x 150 cm), The Sonnabend Collection and Antonio Homem. © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome © Archivio Mario Schifano.
