Venue:
Vercelli, Arca di Vercelli – ex Chiesa di San Marco, Italy.

Curator:
Luca Massimo Barbero.

Artists:
Joan Miró, Piet Mondrian and Alexander Calder.

Exhibition description:
This exhibition includes over 30 works, of both painting and sculpture, chosen to survey the careers of these three giants of the avant-garde: Miró, Mondrian, and Calder. The two Guggenheim collectors, Peggy and Solomon, were both farsighted, with an acute eye for the avant-garde. They took risks on artists that would prove to be major figures in the history of 20th century art, collecting works that are now considered cornerstones of the avant-garde movements. Miró, Mondrian, and Calder represent a spectrum—with the poetic Surrealism of Miró at one end, the pure abstraction of Mondrian at the other, and the sculpture of Calder, with Surrealist and abstract components sympathetic to the imagery of both painters, at the center. This exhibition is an opportunity to discover heights of poetic fantasy that traversed the 20th century.

Partnerships:
Organized by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in partnership with the Regione Piemonte and the Comune di Vercelli.

Catalogue:
Barbero, Luca Massimo. I giganti dell'Avanguardia: Miró, Mondrian, Calder e le Collezioni Guggenheim. Milan: Silvana Editoriale Spa, 2012.

Catalogue in Italian. It contains prefaces by Andrea Corsaro (Sindaco della Città di Vercelli); Pier Giorgio Fossale (Assessore alla Cultura per l’Economia della Conoscenza della Città di Vercelli); Richard Armstrong (Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation) and Philip Rylands (Director of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection), and essays by Francesca Pola, Sileno Salvagnini and Luca Massimo Barbero. Catalogue includes plates and artists’ biographies.

Library location: GUGG PGC 2012.01.