March 24, 2024

Mario Schifano: Germinal at Magazzino Italian Art, March 23 – August 9, 2024

“Magazzino Italian Art is proud to announce the presentation of a newly imagined survey of a decade of breakthrough paintings by the restlessly inventive artist, filmmaker, photographer, and musician Mario Schifano (1934–1998). Organized by Filippo Fossati, Director of Magazzino, in collaboration with the Archivio Mario Schifano and the Archivio Maurizio Calvesi in Rome and titled Germinal, the artist’s own term for paintings of major, generative effect, the exhibition will be on view in Magazzino’s Robert Olnick Pavilion from March 23 through August 9, 2024.”—  Magazzino Italian Art

According to Filippo Fossati, “This exhibition features germinal works from 1960 to 1970, a time of great social, economic, political, and artistic turmoil, in which Schifano was an eager participant. In these years, with his abundant charisma and exuberance, he became one of the most popular artists in Italy and a renowned figure abroad, creating art that he envisioned as being for everyone, and not just for an elite.”

Mario Schifano. Segnaletica, 1961. Enamel and graphite on paper mounted on canvas, 36 x 50 in. (91.5 x 127 cm). Private Collection. Photo by Arte Fotografica – Roma © Fondazione Maurizio Calvesi by SIAE 2024. Courtesy Magazzino Italian Art.
Mario Schifano, En plein air after New York, 1964. Enamel, spray, graphite, and pastel on paper mounted on canvas, 49 2/3 x 88 32/3 in. (126 x 225 cm). Annalisa Zambon Collection, courtesy Galleria dello Scudo, Verona. Photo by Studio Vandrasch, Milan © Fondazione Maurizio Calvesi by SIAE 2024. Courtesy Magazzino Italian Art.
Mario Schifano. En plein air… I love Federico Fellini more than grass, 1964. Mixed media on cardboard, 28 7/8 x 22 7/8 in. (73.4 x 58 cm). Olnick Spanu Collection, New York. Photo by Marco Anelli and Tommaso Sacconi © Fondazione Maurizio Calvesi by SIAE 2024. Courtesy Magazzino Italian Art.
Mario Schifano. Grande oggetto paesaggio, 1965. Enamel, spray, and graphite on canvas,
78 3/4 x 118 1/2 in. (200 x 301 cm). Private Collection. Photo by Marco Anelli © Fondazione Maurizio Calvesi by SIAE 2024. Courtesy Magazzino Italian Art.
Mario Schifano. Lei era certa che rappresentavano il sesso, 1965. Enamel and graphite on canvas, 63 1/8 x 39 3/8 in. (160 x 100 cm). Olnick Spanu Collection, New York. Photo by Marco Anelli and Tommaso Sacconi © Fondazione Maurizio Calvesi by SIAE 2024. Courtesy Magazzino Italian Art.
Mario Schifano. Futurismo rivisitato a colori, 1965. Enamel on canvas and Perspex, 68 7/8 x 118 1/8 in. (175 x 300 cm) (3 panels). Private Collection. Photo by Marco Anelli © Fondazione Maurizio Calvesi by SIAE 2024. Courtesy Magazzino Italian Art.
Mario Schifano in his studio in New York, 1964. ©Archivio Mario Schifano by SIAE 2024. Courtesy Magazzino Italian Art.

“Germinal is dedicated to the memory of art critic and historian Maurizio Calvesi (1927–2020) and his wife, the writer, editor, and museum director Augusta Monferini (1934–2022), who were the first to propose an exhibition in the U.S. focused on the work of Schifano. Magazzino first took up this project in the exhibition Mario Schifano: The Rise of the ‘60s, curated by Alberto Salvadori, which was shown from September 14, 2023 through January 8, 2024. Using many of the same 80 works, Germinal presents a thoroughly new and different view of Schifano’s achievement, seen from the perspective of Filippo Fossati’s forty-year career in bridging Italian and international contemporary art.” —  Magazzino Italian Art