On the occasion of the centenary of the publication of the Manifesto of Surrealism, written by André Breton in the autumn of 1924, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection presents “Italy is more surrealist than the Pope” (Salvador Dalì 1935) two-day conference, which will be held on 17 and 18 October in the spaces of the Auditorium Santa Margherita, Ca' Foscari University of Venice. Curated by Gražina Subelytė, Associate Curator, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Giulia Ingarao, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo, and Hubertus Gassner, Art Historian and former Director of the Hamburger Kunsthalle in Hamburg.
Among the various themes, the surrealist environments and architecture in Italy will be explored, as well as the broader international context of museums, galleries and private collections. Last but not least, the way in which Surrealism has been at the center of discussions in intellectual circles in Italy thanks to exhibitions and magazines will be taken into account. Through the analytical study of the Italian cultural framework Italy is more surrealist than the Pope will offer the extraordinary opportunity to analyze Surrealism and its relationship with our country, presenting innovative arguments aimed at mapping and examining crucial themes and perspectives.
Program of the two days:
Thursday, October 17, 10am-18pm
Surrealism and Italy: Before, During, After
Victoria Noel-Johnson A surreal game that throws smoke in the eyes: the surrealist collecting of Giorgio de Chirico's works from the 1910s and 1920s
Stefania Portinari “Poetry is made in the woods”. Botanical elements and small dreams in Italy in the 1920s
Matthew Gale “Our Good Surrealist Friends”: The Case of Marco Levi Bianchini
Anna Watz Legacies and Appropriations from Giorgio de Chirico in the Work of Kay Sage and Gertrude Abercrombie
Surrealism and the Renaissance
Tessel M. Bauduin “A Grand Vision of the Cosmos and the Unconscious”: Piero di Cosimo in Surrealism, with Considerations on Paolo Uccello and Giuseppe Arcimboldo
Giulia Ingarao Renaissance Culture at the Origins of Leonora Carrington's Organic Cosmology
Alyce Mahon The Tower of the Surreal: Leonor Fini and the Italian Tradition
Giuliana Altea and Antonella Camarda Bona. A surrealist journey between Italy and France
Museums, galleries, collections
Oliver Tostmann From Hartford to Rome: “Chick” Austin’s 1937 Trip to Italy
Alice Ensabella The exhibition “Têtes composées d'Arcimboldo” at the Galerie Furstenberg in the spring of 1954
Alessandro Nigro “Those hills of Tuscany remain on my brain. “I fear I am possessed by Italy”: Paris in the 1930s, the Surrealists, the fascination with Italy and the Old Masters in Marie-Laure de Noailles’ correspondence with Bernard Berenson
Friday, October 18, 10am-18pm
Dalí and Italy
Annabelle Görgen-Lammers Italian lands burned by desire on the beach of Cadaqués
Elliott H. King Salvador Dalí's Italian Countryside: Mysticism, Hiparxiologists and the Divine Comedy
Surrealism in Post-War Italy
Gavin Parkinson Surrealist bajography
Jerome Duwa Jean-Jacques Lebel in Italy (1955–1961): “Front Unique”, critical front
Abigail Susik Post-war Surrealism on display in Milan: the first International Exhibition of Surrealism in Italy, 1959
Amber D'Antone A “cold” rereading of Surrealism in Emilia Romagna in the 1960s
Paulina Dear Trunk Towards a “Historical Morphology”: Matta’s Surrealism in Italy
Terri Geis Manina's Neon Magic in Post-War Venice
Julia Tulino Pavel Tchelitchew and Charles Henri Ford between the United States and Italy in the post-war period
Surrealist environments
Tobias Bezzola The Tarot Garden by Niki de Saint Phalle
Hubertus Gassner and Ute Janssen Edward James's The Sorcerer's House: A Surrealist House?
The conference is open to the public, participation is free, subject to availability.
The conference Italy is more surrealist than the Pope is made possible thanks to the KHR Family Fund, and is organized in collaboration with Ca' Foscari University of Venice.
