The richest existing worldwide collection of figurines and related materials from the first half of the nineteenth century to the present became a museum in 1992 by the will of Giuseppe Panini, founder of the homonymous graphic industry (1961), who donated his entire collection to the Municipality of Modena. This collection was formed with the intent to trace the history and development of this advertising “material,” made up of figurines and related items that have long been objects of intense collector interest. The Museum’s heritage consists of about 500,000 specimens, only a portion of which are on display. Among these are exceptionally rare series such as Liebig’s, published between 1873 and 1975 by the eponymous company producing meat extract; this group includes sketches, print proofs, and lithographic stones. Thousands of figurines from the large Parisian department store “Au Bon Marché” and other manufacturers, 19th-century American cigarette cards, matchboxes, candy wrappers, barber calendars, and other rarities collectively represent an irreplaceable documentary archive for the history of graphic arts and advertising communication. The museum’s collection brings together, alongside the actual figurines, related materials by technique and function: small antique prints, matchboxes, wax seals, paper money, menus, calendars, albums published by companies to collect series or created for pastime by collectors, and many other materials. The exhibition hall is arranged with six display “cabinets,” designed like albums to leaf through, each dedicated to a specific theme: “The Precursors” (the recurrence of iconographic themes from antique prints to contemporary figurines), “Chromolithography” (the invention of chromolithographic printing and the printing process from sketch to figurine), “The Birth and Spread” (from the French debut of figurines in the late 19th century to the Italian adventure of prize contests in the 1930s), “The Liebig” (the world’s most famous historical collection), “Not Only Figurines” (cigarette cards, calendars, wax seals, menus, place cards, hotel labels, and other minor collections), “The Modern Figurine” (sports figurines and albums from the post-war period). Alongside the permanent exhibition, a large showcase hosts temporary exhibitions.
Information about the Figurine Museum
Corso Canalgrande, 103,
41121 Modena (Modena)
0592033090
museo.figurina@comune.modena.it
https://www.comune.modena.it/museofigurina/
Source: MIBACT
