Twentieth Century Art, or rather “Novecento” style, is particularly rich and versatile from an expressive point of view, if it is analyzed within Italian cultural events of the period straddling the two world wars. As from 1922, the year in which Margherita Sarfatti’s artistic movement made its first public manifestation, this style spread and made a name … Continue
The Wolfson collection – the furniture, the metalwork, Gio Ponti’s and Guido Andlovitz’s ceramics and the vase by La Salamandra of Perugia exhibited in Monza in 1930 – testifies the spread of the Art Deco style in Italy which lasted through the first years of the Thirties. In the attempt to renovate Italian art by means of a direct … Continue
Antonio Rubino (1880-1964), founder of the most famous children’s magazine “Il corriere dei piccoli”, was influenced by the Symbolist circles and by the Art Nouveau, of which he offered a brilliant interpretation in the field of illustrations using later iconographic models, typical of the Art Deco style. He dedicated most of his artistic production to … Continue
Duilio Cambellotti is one of the most interesting personalities in the Italian decorative arts scene of the first half of the Twentieth Century. Characterized by a “craftsman” approach, with a strong bent for the integration of different artistic modes, the Roman artist was a painter, sculptor, illustrator, engraver, scenographer and costume designer for the theatre and … Continue
The second section of the museum is dedicated to Art Nouveau. A decorative style widespread throughout Europe and the United States between 1890 and the First World War, it presents characteristic peculiarities according to the nations where it developed. In this sense the Wolfsoniana offers an example of Italian Liberty by means of the partial reconstruction of … Continue
The so called Moorish style became popular in Italy in the second half of the Nineteenth Century thanks to the great exhibitions and it spread mainly in places dedicated to entertainment and amusement: grand hotels, bathing establishments, thermal baths, summer arenas. In the abodes of the new rising middle class, the cabinet-makers, besides undertaking the realization of neo … Continue
Wolfsoniana is the place where the selected objects of the Wolfson collection find their expositive place. The visitor who walks throuh furnitures, paintings and furnishings taht aere exposed, feels the taste of time and the importance of themes that Micky Wolfson wants to emphasize through his collection. The arrangement of Wolfsoniana follows a chronological/thematical address. Beside … Continue
E. Torelli Landini, Attilio Calzavara. Works and commissions of an anti-fascist designer, The Wolfsonian Foundation, Miami Beach, Amalthea, Fiesole, 1994, pp. 174, illustrated, English text, euro 26 S. Barisione, M. Fochessati, G. Franzone, La Collezione Wolfson. Aspetti dell’arte italiana tra le due guerre, (The Wolfson Collection. Features of Italian art between the two wars), exhibition catalogue, Palazzo Ducale, … Continue
The library, in thematic relationship with the Collection, consists of around 10,000 volumes, and plays a vital role in the work of the Study Centre. A vast section is dedicated to the Futurist movement: in addition to possessing almost all the manifestos, it preserves precious manuscripts, magazines, postcards, photographs, brochures and books, such as, among … Continue
The Wolfsoniana preserves a series of personal and institution archives relating to the themes of the collection: Ansaldo 75 projects for steamships and ocean liners, 6 photo albums Beniamino Bellati 2,408 drawings and heliographic copies, 603 photos, various documents and publications Umberto Bellotto 207 photographs Attilio Calzavara 69 photos, 20 drawings, various documents and publications … Continue
The Wolfson Collection Study Centre was established in 1993, when the Collection had its first primary location in via Asilo Garbarino in Genoa. The Study Centre, now in Palazzo Ducale, is aimed for study, research, conservation, publication, promotion, and valorisation of the materials of the Collection and, more generally, of the arts and culture of … Continue
The Collection It is an original and varied collection comprising objects and works of art dating from 1880 to 1945. An excursion among the works of the collection becomes a fascinating documentary: on the changes in taste and style within private abodes and public buildings, on the urban transformation processes, on the relationship between art and … Continue
What is the spirit of the collection? The collection is a reflection of the contemporary information age culture. I find that an image communicates more completely than a word picture. Collecting images and points of view is my main activity. I like the idea of stimulating people’s curiosity, of asking people to reflect. I guess … Continue
