Equilibrium?

The theme of the 12th edition of Flashback, which questions the profound meaning of equilibrium, a concept that crosses numerous fields, including, inevitably, art, is developed on various aspects. 

That feeling of balance, which one experiences in the presence of a work of art given by the thoughtful balance of the volumes and the symmetries of the forms, can be found in the harmony and order offered by the two paintings by Matteo Cesa (Belluno, 1425 c. - 1495 c.). Depicting two episodes of the stories of the Virgin, the Presentation of Jesus in the temple and the Assumption of the Virgin, these two panels are part of an altarpiece that the Belluno artist had created for the church of Santa Maria in Sargnano (BL) , around 1480 and thanks to the notes and a drawing by Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle from 1865-66, when the work was still on the main altar of the church, we are today able to reconstruct the composition of the altarpiece.

 

Equilibrium of forms in the natural structure of human bodies, which refers us to classical art, is well represented in the Two academy studies of male nudes by Ubaldo Gandolfi (San Matteo della Decima, Bologna, 1728 – Bologna 1780). Splendid proof of Gandolfi's ability to paint reality, these two canvases qualify as an important acquisition for the knowledge of his operating methods in the rendering of motion and anatomy. Never tired of dealing with the difficulties of studying the natural, Ubaldo began this practice during his formative years and continued it throughout his career, following the teachings of some fundamental figures he had the opportunity to meet in Bologna, including remembers Anton Raphael Mengs.

 

Balance is not always synonymous with symmetry, it can also be identified in the relationships between lights, tones and shades of colours, creating a sense of peace as in the View of a valley with wayfarers by Giuseppe Pietro Bagetti (Turin 1764-1831), in black stone, pen and brown ink, with watercolours, signed and dated 1797. The Turin painter and architect, despite being an active figure on various fronts, from topography to painting to music, he dedicated himself to watercolour to create views and landscapes, with a faithful rendering of life, without any rhetoric, while remaining connected to an eighteenth-century taste for the choice of point of view, preferably scenographic. His art exerted a certain influence in Piedmont, importing ways specific to French historical-romantic painting, capturing its more choreographic side or poetic adherence to reality, as in the case of the views that portray the nuanced sweetness of the Langhe or the Piedmontese countryside.

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Preview (by invitation only)

30 October

11am - 10pm

 

Opening hours

31 october - 3 November

11am - 8pm