International Art News

Adolfo Wildt, Un Rosario - MCMXV, particolare. Milano, collezione privata.

From January 28 to June 17, 2012 – Musei San Domenico
Finally, he has been rediscovered! An artist known by certain aficionados, but unheard of by numerous art amateurs, Adolfo Wildt (1868-1931), was a hair dresser and then a jeweller apprentice before discovering sculpture at the age of 13. At the age of 26, a Prussian collector –Franz Rose – signed a contract with him that covered the artist’s needs: for 18 years, the aesthete bought the first edition of each of his sculptures for an annual salary of 4000 lire. He then starts making from plaster, wax or, better yet, marble, hallucinating portraits, tortured faces, with sunk in features or amplified and exaggerated. In the restful venue of a restored church and its cloister, in what was Mussolini’s native town, his shocking creations, between symbolism and Art nouveau, are brought together with works that impressed him, from Cosmè Tura to Casorati.

Adolfo Wildt, Carattere fiero - Anima gentile, particolare. Venezia, Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna di Ca’ Pesaro

After the death of its promoter Rose (1912), Adolfo Wildt was forced to compete for the first time with the art market. In 1913, he was awarded the Premio Principe Umberto for his design for the fountain show at The trilogy of Secession of Monaco, then exhibited in the courtyard of the Humane Society in Milan. From 1914 onwards he was able to regularly attend various international exhibitions. Furthermore, he also held a staff in 1919 at the Galleria Pesaro in Milan, while in 1921, 1924 and 1926 he exhibited at the Venice Biennale. In 1921 he founded his School in Milan Marble which then became part of the ‘Accademia di Brera and was developed in 1927 in a three-year program. Among his most famous pupils were Lucio Fontana, Fausto Melotti and Luigi Broggini.

Museum Hours

Pierre Bonnard, Le Café, 1915, Oil on canvas, 73 × 106.4 cm, Tate, Photo: © 2012, Tate, London © 2012, ProLitteris, Zurich

29 January – 13 May 2012 – Foundation Beyeler
With the exhibition “Pierre Bonnard”, the Fondation Beyeler celebrates the great French colorist and one of the most fascinating of modern artists. More than 60 paintings from renowned museums and private collections provide insight into all phases of his career.
Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) was a co-founder of an artist‘s group known as the Nabis, who admired the style of Paul Gauguin and Japanese woodblock prints. In Paris, Bonnard depicted the bustling life on the streets and in the cafés, before retiring first to Normandy, very close to Monet‘s water-lily garden, then to the sunny Côte d‘Azur, where he was inspired by the light and colors of the Mediterranean environment. Continually experimenting, he produced variants in ever-new color combinations and from surprising points of view on subjects from everyday life, in which time only apparently seems to stand still. The artist‘s favorite model was the mysterious Marthe, his muse and wife. Bonnard created harmonious still lifes, enigmatic interiors, intimate female nudes, moving self-portraits, and decorative landscapes whose magnificent palette is unique in modern art.

Pierre Bonnard - Place Clichy, 1906–07 Oil on canvas, 102.1 × 116.6 cm Private collection © 2012, ProLitteris, Zurich

One of the principal lenders is the Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Further outstanding loans come from the Tate London; the Musée national d’Art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Metropolitan Museum, New York; the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; the Kunstmuseum Basel; the Kunsthaus Zürich; and from distinguished private collections, not least from the Hahnloser successors.

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