Italy's 1950s:
An International Dialogue, Works on Paper from the Collection of the University of Pis

In November the Sidney Mishkin Gallery will present Italy's 1950s: An International Dialogue, featuring prints and drawings from the collection of the University of Pisa in Italy. The body of work will include figurative as well as abstract compositions by some of the Italy's best-known artists of the post-war period, including Carla Accardi, Enrico Baj, Renato Birolli, Massimo Campigli, and Emilio Vedova.

Following the oppressive cultural climate endured during the reign of Fascism, the immediate postwar years in Italy were characterized by intense political debates between artists who wanted art to represent political realities and those who wanted to resume the commitment to the modernist principles of the prewar era. By 1950, however, artists found themselves once again engaged in a dialogue with the international avant-garde.

Most important for artists involved with the international language of modernism was the definition of a new relationship between the artist and his work. Artists who strove to break loose from the systems of traditional reference joined numerous groups and movements, each requesting uncompromising artistic liberty. Most influential of these was Art Informel, a movement that has its American counterpart in abstract expressionism. Also included in the exhibition, however, are examples of figurative art from this decade, bearing witness to the fact that despite the influence of modernism some Italian artists rejected pure abstraction.

The exhibition is sponsored by the Province of Pisa in collaboration with the University of Pisa, the Piaggio Foundation, and the Italian Cultural Institute.

© 1999 Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College