The Menil Drawing Institute presents a virtual symposium on Italian Drawings from the Twentieth Century from April 7–9, 2021.
The three-day online series on modern Italian drawings is organized in conjunction with the exhibition Silent Revolutions: Italian Drawings from the Twentieth Century, with works from Collezione Ramo of Milan, on view at the Menil Drawing Institute through April 11, 2021.
Keynote Lecture by Professor Emily Braun
Visionary Line: The Drawings of Adolfo Wildt
Wednesday, April 7, 12–1 p.m. CST, online
Emily Braun, Distinguished Professor at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, looks at how Symbolist artist Adolfo Wildt exploited drawing as a medium of visionary experience, both for the artist and the viewer. In the emaciated line of his pencil drawings, as well as in his crepuscular charcoal compositions, Wildt relied on specific graphic qualities to represent bodies in ecstasy, suffering, and trance-like states.
Panel on Women Artists
Thursday, April 8, 12–1:30 p.m. CST, online
This panel focuses on Italian draftswomen, with three presentations by leading experts in the field: Silvia Bottinelli, Tufts University; Teresa Kittler, University of York; and Lucia Re, Research Professor of Italian Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies (UCLA), University of California, Los Angeles. Throughout the 20th century, women artists in Italy were frequently marginalized or excluded from institutional frameworks and many remain little known to this day, despite their rich and varied oeuvre.
Panel on the Interconnections Between American and Italian Artists
Friday, April 9, 12–1:30 p.m. CST, online
Presentations by Irina Zucca Alessandrelli, Collezione Ramo, Milan; Raffaele Bedarida, The Cooper Union, New York; and Francesco Guzzetti, University of Florence, focus on cross-currents in drawing practices between Italian and American artists in the 20th century. Based on mutual discovery and reception, the international artistic exchange had varied connotations with a long-lasting impact on American and Italian artists, and also collectors, critics, curators, and dealers.