Located in the late eighteenth-century Palazzo Sanvitale, headquarters of the Monte di Parma Foundation, the museum originates from the donation of works by Amedeo Bocchi (1883-1976) by his heirs Rina Cabassi and Emilia Bocchi, respectively the artist’s sister-in-law and niece. It consists of paintings, watercolors, pastels, studies, drawings, sketches, and sculptures that allow the reconstruction of the artistic journey of one of the greatest protagonists of twentieth-century Italy. The visit unfolds through five rooms where three painting cycles dear to the artist are preserved: portraits of his daughter Bianca, studies and fresco tests for the decoration of the council hall of the Cassa di Risparmio di Parma, as well as landscapes, family portraits, and studies, drawings and sketches, some unpublished, gathered in the last room that completes the monographic museum thanks to the further donation by the heirs, made in 2003. Amedeo Bocchi (1883-1976) lived between the Emilia city and Rome, but remained faithful to the international influences received during his formative years in the capital, that is to say the borderline line between symbolism and secessionism, not exempt from the reception of the French post-impressionist fauvism, variously deciphered by the most up-to-date artists of the region such as Garzia Fioresi and Carlo Corsi; and subsequently these stylistic influences remained, subtly, in the following works inspired by the “return to order” of Novecento painting. His preference for the interpretation of social themes and the human figure, especially the female one, was constant throughout the long path testified by the works in the Museum: Fior di loto, Bianca, La famiglia, Nudo femminile, Il tè, La trebbia, and Esodo demonstrate the sensitivity and quality of this Emiliano artist, updating the territory’s painting in the delicate transition between the 19th and 20th centuries. In recent years, the Museum’s intense exhibition activity has aimed to deepen, through a rich calendar of temporary exhibitions, the knowledge of those authors and artistic movements linked to the fabric of the Parma province; furthermore, the monographic exhibition of the Bolognese painter Vasco Bendini, L’immagine accolta (2003), was organized. In 2004, in collaboration with the University of Parma and thanks to materials loaned by the C.S.A.C. – Communication Archive Study Center – two exhibitions entitled La parola all’immagine were successively held, concerning Illustration and satire in Parma between the two wars, with works by Giovannino Guareschi, Carlo Bisi, Erberto Carboni, and Cesare Gobbo. The second focused on The satirical sign of Giovannino Guareschi. The summer season of 2005 took place with the exhibition Under the color of the paintings, drawings by Parmese Bocchi, which highlighted his versatility as a draftsman through a chronological path unfolding across five rooms of the Palazzo. In addition to exhibition activities, the Museum has offered other cultural events such as public readings by contemporary authors: in January 2006, to accompany texts by writer Vittorio Sereni, abstract artist Enrico Della Torre, friend and profound connoisseur of the poet, created fifteen watercolors, exhibited for the first time in the Multi-purpose Hall of Palazzo Sanvitale. Also, in the same year, the traveling photographic exhibition W Nairobi W by Francesco Fantini, a photojournalist recently dedicated to social reportage, took place. The city of Parma, in 2007, dedicated a great retrospective to the native Amedeo Bocchi (The light of beauty and ‘real life’; The sketches of Amedeo Bocchi for the Cathedral of Messina) curated by Luciano Caramel, located not only in the homonymous museum but also in other city venues (Palazzo Pigorini, Council Hall of the Cassa di Risparmio di Parma e Piacenza, Bocchi Hall of the National Gallery of Parma). Two canvases that were exhibited, Two old men and Study for journey of a soul, then became an integral part of the Museum collection, finding a permanent place within the exhibition route, which also benefits from new acquisitions.
Information about the “Amedeo Bocchi” Museum
Via Cairoli,
43121 Parma (Parma)
0521228289
[email protected]
Source: MIBACT
