Edmondo Bacci: Energy and Light
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Curated by Chiara Bertola, Curator and Manager of Contemporary Art Projects, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice
There is nothing that is superfluous, but, as in every work that is strongly aesthetic, he is simple tense alive. For him color is a conflict of power and his material lives by his tension, it is sensitive and luminous.
Peggy Guggenheim (Bacci, [Venice: Edizioni del Cavallino, 1958])
From April 1 through September 18, 2023, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection presents Edmondo Bacci: Energy and Light, organized by Chiara Bertola, Curator and Manager of Contemporary Art Projects, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice. The exhibition will feature approximately eighty works—many of which have never been exhibited before—including paintings and unpublished drawings on loan from the Archivio Edmondo Bacci, as well as from private collections and international museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Palm Springs Art Museum. It will be the first and most extensive retrospective dedicated to Venetian artist Edmondo Bacci (1913–1978).
The exhibition focuses primarily on the 1950s, the most lyrical and creative period of the artist's career, and when he achieved international success. Indeed, during this period, as an established exponent of Spazialismo, and among the most innovative artists of the Italian art scene, Bacci captured the attention of Peggy Guggenheim and leading art critics through the novelty of his painting, the generative force of his color, his rupture of spatial planes, and the circular rhythm of his brushstrokes. Bacci was one of the finest representatives of Venetian post-war art, together with, among others, Tancredi Parmeggiani and Emilio Vedova, who also achieved international success and acclaim. Bacci was also one of the few artists in Italy to understand the possibilities of the latest type of abstraction, merging contemporary trends in Europe and the United States with his unique and personal style. The exhibition tells this story through works that are crucial to understanding the evolution of the pictorial language of color and light that so impressed Guggenheim, as well as Alfred H. Barr Jr, the director of the Museum of Modern Art of New York, who acquired Avvenimento #13R in 1953. The work, now in the holdings of the New York museum, makes a special return to Italy, where it will be on public view for the first time.
Edmondo Bacci: Energy and Light is accompanied by a substantial illustrated catalogue, edited by Marsilio Arte, which contains essays by curator Chiara Bertola, Martina Manganello, Barry Schwabsky, Toni Toniato, and Riccardo Venturi.
Gallery
Public Programs
Waiting for Edmondo Bacci: Energy and Light
As we look forward to the upcoming exhibition, Chiara Bertola introduces Edmondo Bacci in a free online meeting open to all.
On the occasion of the Edmondo Bacci: Energy and Light exhibition, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection offers a 20% discount on first subscriptions to all levels of membership valid for 12 months.
The offer is valid from March 15–31, 2023
in depth
Edmondo Bacci, Venice Biennale, 1958
The artist Edmondo Bacci in the words of Peggy Guggenheim.
The exhibition programs of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection are supported by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection Advisory Board. The educational programs in conjunction with the exhibition are funded by the Fondazione Araldi Guinetti, Vaduz. The exhibitions at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection are made possible by the Institutional Patrons, EFG, Lavazza and Sanlorenzo, and by the Guggenheim Intrapresæ.
The exhibition is made possible by
With the support of
- Allegrini + Apice + Arper + Eurofood + Florim + Hangar Design Group + Istituto Europeo di Design + Itago + Mapei + René Caovilla + Rubelli + Swatch