Category Archives: Art

Of scholars and saints

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You can be a student of history, or you could be a student surrounded by history.

Imagine studying within the walls of a former monastery and cloisters adjacent to the 4th century Basilica Sant’Ambrogio: a site with historical pedigree that houses the relics of Milan’s first Bishop and Patron Saint, St Ambrose. Walking to lectures under the university’s stone portico and entering the gardens of the twin cloisters (designed by Bramante) was like entering an intellectual sanctuary of past saints and students.

I came to learn that St Ambrose was a force to be reckoned with in Milan: he famously refused to permit entrance into the Milan Cathedral (the original one that would have faced the current Cathedral if it was still standing today) of Emperor Theodosius until he publicly repented of having massacred 7000 people in Thessalonica. The Emperor ultimately bowed to St Ambrose’s request and the stand-off is captured in a painting by Camillo Procaccini within the Basilica.

Perhaps in keeping with St Ambrose’s warrior-like defence of Milan against Imperial heavyweights the saint lies at the junction of religious, civic and teaching institutions in Piazza Sant’Ambrogio, with the Basilica bordered by Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and the State police barracks.

While Ambrose’s relics lie comfortably undisturbed between those of two other saints in the Basilica’s crypt, work on a new metro station nearby has unceremoniously unearthed further relics that are being exhumed and relocated to safer environs.

Around stone seats in the Piazza outside the university family groups gather at graduation time with their Prosecco magnums and paper cups to enthusiastically celebrate their graduands: the laurel wreaths on the graduands’ heads symbolic of the victor’s spoils after having successfully defended their final thesis.

This blend of every-day life, age-old traditions and historical heritage around Sant’Ambrogio is symptomatic, I think, of Milan: it’s a city where the past and the present co-exist while making room for the future.

Atrium of Sant’Ambrogio

I made it! Universita Cattolica!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bramante cloister

 

 

 

 

 

Designs on Milan

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On reflection of Milan while homeward bound to Australia I can definitely say that Design Week literally transformed the streets of Milan like the city’s Fashion Week never did. Design Week cannot be considered an exhibition in the traditional sense, although the Fieramilano Showgrounds outside the city would have resembled that aspect of commercial enterprise. From my observations, what attracts more than 300,000 visitors to Milan for 6 days in April is the transformation of ordinary spaces and streetscapes into temporary stages/venues for showcasing leading design concepts. These are not simply a few pieces of furniture or bathroom-ware idly positioned to fit a space, but to provide an event experience that reflects the creativity and innovative use of marble or wood or new materials. This concept hails from 1965 when exhibiting companies wanted more flexibility in showcasing their innovations, to the extent that in 1979 one company left their exhibition booth empty but from it promoted a shuttle service to take interested delegates directly to their warehouse for a personalised experience.  This led to the creation of the Fuorisalone that supported dressing up spaces around the city and opening up the design concepts to local Milanese as well as international visitors.

Historic precincts such as the Brera Academy hosted pop-up installations, forecourts of train and metro stations were utilised, cafe walls were rented by artists.  This activity attracted major consumer brands – Nike, Nokia, Prada. This year’s exhibits by Sony with their robot-dog and Samsung were extravagant!  Also for the first time pharmaceutical company Novartis showed in the Tortona design district.

Design Week also included design competitions.  One of my fellow students, Yui Akagi (who is also an accomplished ballroom dancer), helped her architecture colleagues from the University of Tokyo complete an exhibit of an imitation of a famous Japanese tea-house.  Its innovative design whereby the floating floor movement created by an occupant, which in turn affected the frame through tension on wires interlaced through a series of pulleys, was designed to illustrate the intimate relationship between occupant and environment, won the team first prize in their category.

Fuorisalone dates for 2020 are 20-26 April.

 

Mid-way through my 2019 Grand Tour of Milan

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Well I’ve reached the half-way mark of my sojourn in Milan. What do I think so far? Its absolutely fabuloso!

Venice Carnivale

While the snow and freezing temperatures took its toll in the first month, the temperatures in Milan have now definitely improved. La primavera is well and truly setting a much warmer scene for the remainder of my stay.

It’s no surprise that I have learned a lot more about Milan since arriving. My Universita Cattolica subject, Reading Milan, is as interesting and revealing as I had hoped it would be. My lecturers have pointed out that reminders of Milan’s Roman and Medieval past are constantly being uncovered. Age-old skeletons have been unearthed as a new underground metro station is being dug alongside the Basilica Sant’Ambrogio to which Universita Cattolica is associated. Even under the Duomo metro station it is possible to see the original base of the Duomo Piazza and realize how much of the existing urban space has been layered and layered upon centuries-old foundations. Even within the Italian Borsa (Stock Exchange building) I was able to see through a glass sub-floor to the remains of Roman foundations during a rare weekend when the building was opened to the public.

Milan’s Duke in the left foreground

I have spent nearly every day since I arrived exploring different parts of the city, using its public transport system, either the metro or trams. Having a bucket-list of reasons to get around the city, such as hanging around Gucci’s compound during Milan Fashion Week show has helped expose me to areas outside the inner-Duomo and tourist precincts.

I was surprised to learn that Milan once resembled Amsterdam with a network of canals to enhance commerce and trade for its merchants until the Fascist government in 1920s decided that the canals were outdated and changed the urban landscape with a road network for modern motor vehicles.

I have been blessed to experience life-long dreams and absorb many beautiful treasures here, such as visiting Venice during Carnivale, attending a performance at Teatro La Scala, observing the goings-on outside 5 fashion houses during Milan Fashion Week, viewing some wonderful art exhibitions of Picasso, Paul Klee and the treasures of the Brera and Gallerie d’Arte Moderna.

I’ve loved seeing the Milanese’s affection for their pets and I have no problem sharing trams, cafes and elevators with dogs of all sizes and breeds, including Great Danes and British Bulldogs!

Dante’s Inferno: Francesca & Paolo

Do I feel like I’m starting to fit in? Well, my local barista now blows me a kiss each morning when he makes me my macchiato, and during a stroll through Sempione Park Marco, an architect from Florence, chatted me up. As it turned out he incorrectly thought the architect of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II was also the architect of Arco delle Pace – when in fact one was Guiseppe and the other Luigi!

Just this weekend, I had the sense of taking a magical carpet ride on a visit inside Gucci’s Hub. This is the brand’s marketing complex located in Milan’s outer district in Via Mecenate. In the 1920s the premises were home to the Caproni aeronautical factory. Unfortunately no photos were allowed but the images will remain imprinted on my mind for some time! I will never forget walking into what was obviously an airplane hangar now metamorphosed into a formal banquet space while beyond a lavish and seemingly endless expanse of black draping were a large stage and it is in this compound that all of Gucci’s fashion shows are held. Surrounding a cloistered garden was a modern glass structure that housed showrooms for international buyers and six floors of offices. Again an image imprinted in my mind is walking through huge velvet red doors into a plush red-carpeted showroom complete with mannequins draped with examples from their collection, while handbags of every description were showcased along the walls. Definitely not allowed to touch! Apparently Gucci’s Creative Director, Alessandro Michele selected the vintage and eclectic mix of furniture that grace the buyer spaces and staff lunch area.

Milan’s Navigli canals

So, armed with a new Milano Moda hairdo and having watched Stramilano’s half-marathon from my apartment’s balcony this weekend, I am ready for the next stage of my race around Milano!  May it be a saunter rather than a sprint!

 

Modern Milan

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The last five years studying art history has taught me that there is still so much more about art to explore: new artists and art movements that I have not delved into too deeply as yet.

Margherita Sarfatti. Image: courtesy of Museo del Novecento

I will soon begin a journey in which I hope to discover new artists and aesthetics that influenced 20th century Italy. My journey will be centred around the exhibitions, museums and galleries in Milan.  One exhibition I plan to visit soon after arriving is Margherita Sarfatti at Milan’s Museo del Novecento which will run until 24 February 2019.

In viewing this exhibition I hope to discover more about this remarkable woman who was a journalist and art critic, and view some works of influential artists of the Novecento Italiano modern art movement whom Margherita championed during the 1920’s era of Mussolini and fascism.

Exhibition details for Margherita Sarfatti at the Museo del Novecento.
Check out the Museo del Novecento’s collection which includes exhibits by Picasso, Kandinsky, Georges Braque, Umberto Boccioni (including his sculpture Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 1913).

To come… Margherita Sarfatti – the exhibition review.

Art, Venice and Peggy

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Venice has been home to the international Biennale since 1895. A little known fact to some is that the Biennale was suspended during WW2, during which time the various national pavilions were commandeered for other uses and they fell into disrepair.

Bronze statue of The Angel of the Citadel by Marino Marini, on the canal forecourt of Palazzo Venier

Equally as famous as the Venice Biennale is of course the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, housed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canal.

On reading The Unfinished Palazzo: Life, Love and Art in Venice by Judith Mackrell which shared the stories of three amazing female occupants of the Palazzo between 1910 to 1979, I was surprised to learn that the first time Peggy’s collection was exhibited in Venice was not in Palazzo Venier, Peggy’s home until her death in 1979.

But rather the artworks were a feature of the post-war Biennale when it was relaunched in 1948.  Following the end of the war, a few countries were unable to provide exhibits to the Biennale and in a bid to fill the refurbished pavilions the organisers invited Peggy to release her collection from safe storage in New York and to mount an exhibition in the vacant Greek Pavilion.

It was not until early 1949 that Peggy purchased the Palazzo Venier property and brought her collection home.

Two exhibitions not to be missed in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection are:

1948: The Biennale of Peggy Guggenheim
May 25–November 25, 2018
The museum presents an homage exhibition to mark the 70th anniversary of Peggy’s exhibition in the Greek Pavilion at the 24th Venice Biennale.

Peggy Guggenheim. The Last Dogaressa
21 September, 2019–27 January, 2020
This exhibition will celebrate Peggy Guggenheim’s Venetian life, shedding light on how she continued to add significant works of art to her collection.

Interested to know more?  Dates for the 2019 Venice Biennale are 11 May to 24 November 2019.