Sponsored by Sondrio Culture Council Office

On April 16, Credito Valtellinese is inaugurating "The Existential Realism", which is the last exhibition of a cycle dedicated to the '50s in Milan.

In February 1997, the exhibition "Real, Concrete, Abstract. From the post-Cubism to the late Naturalism" inaugurated the five-exhibition cycle entitled "Art in Milan 1946-59". It continued in July of the same year with "The Mac period - Movement for the Concrete Art". In March 1998, the third exhibition "The Nuclear Movement" was inaugurated in Sondrio and, subsequently, it was successfully presented in the Umbertide fortress Contemporary Art Centre, in Perugia and in the historical San Fedele Gallery, in Milan. Then, in autumn 1998, the exhibition "The Space Movement" was mounted in three palaces of Sondrio historical centre.

This last exhibition was mounted in order to examine the peculiar aspects of Milan cultural milieu between 1955 and 1959. Martina Corgnati is attending to it.

Existential Realism is a definition given by the critic Marco Valsecchi. The current gathers artists who worked in Milan and reacted to the social milieu in which they lived in different ways. Some of them denounced it through particularly dramatic paintings (think, as an example, of their reaction to the so-called "Hungary events", that is the Soviet invasion of Budapest, in 1956). Others became very introverted and thoughtful about their own identity, in accordance with the French Existentialism philosophy.

The exhibition shows the movement twofold nature: its attention to history and the linguistic break with the official realism a lot of critics, who were close to the Italian Communist Party, and artists such as Renato Guttuso and Ernesto Treccani were still supporting.

Approximately fifty exhibits are shown among which pictures, drawings and sculptures realised between 1955 and 1959 by the following artists: Giuseppe Banchieri, Giorgio Bellandi, Floriano Boldini, Giancarlo Cazzaniga, Mino Ceretti, Gianfranco Ferroni, Franco Francese, Giansisto Gasparini, Giuseppe Guerreschi, Liberio Reggiani, Bepi Romagnoni, Luigi Timoncini, Tino Vaglieri.

An accurate section, including documents about the historical events of those times, integrates the exhibition.

A catalogue, published by Credito Valtellinese and edited by Martina Corgnati, is also available. The catalogue includes the copies of the exhibits, an unpublished essay by the editor, which is meant to examine the cultural debate main aspects, and the bio-bibliographical cards of the artists and of the works, edited by Emma Gravagnuolo.

The Stelline Refectory, San Fedele Gallery and more Milan centres are soon hosting a synthesis of the five-exhibition cycle entitled "Art in Milan".

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For further information
Credito Valtellinese Gallery, Sondrio
Phone 0342. 522738
email: creval@creval.it