Prima di immergersi nelle sale del Palazzo Reale e perdersi ad ammirare le 19 opere di Antonello da Messina nella mostra a lui dedicata (fino al 2 giugno 2019), suggerisco di andare prima al Museo Poldi Pezzoli. Qui, nel Salore dorato c’è la Vergine Leggente, donata da Luciana Forti, figlia dell’imprenditore mecenate Mino.

Non è solo un viso, un velo bianco che allude al matrimonio, un libro di preghiere, due angeli che reggono una corona di pietre preziose tempestate di perle, di pietre preziose e gigli. Osservarla diventa un’esperienza interattiva. La Vergine stava leggendo, qualcosa ha interrotto la lettura, solleva parzialmente lo sguardo, ma non ci guarda. E questo è molto intrigante: costringe a guardarla. Diventa così un’esperienza preziosa e affascinante, attimi brevi ma lunghissimi, che permette di avvicinarsi, di prendere dimestichezza, con la bellezza creata da uno dei più misteriosi, enigmatici e abili pittori di tutti i tempi. Milano

Before plunging into the rooms of the Palazzo Reale and getting lost in admiring the 19 works by Antonello da Messina in the exhibition dedicated to him (until Jume 2, 2019), I suggest going to the Poldi Pezzoli Museum first. Here, in the golden Salore there is the reading Virgin, donated by Luciana Forti, daughter of the patron entrepreneur Mino.

It is not just a face, a white veil that alludes to marriage, a prayer book, two angels that hold a crown of precious stones studded with pearls, precious stones and lilies. Observing it becomes an interactive experience. The Virgin was reading, something interrupted her reading, she partially raised her eyes, but did not look at us. And this is very intriguing: it forces us to look at it. It becomes a precious and fascinating experience, short but very long moments, which allows you to get close, to become familiar with the beauty created by one of the most mysterious, enigmatic and skilled painters of all time.

A Visual Protest. The art of Banksy
Mudec, Milan - until April 14, 2019

A mysterious and fascinating author, capable of triggering a real hunt for his works (and his visual complaints) when the rumor that arrived in the city spreads. And yes, because from New York to the wall that separates Cisgiordania to the state of Israel, in Naples, Banksy’s touch has reached (presumably nightly and protected from prying eyes) the buildings of the main metropolises of the world. With messages that are an explicit and biting provocation towards the arrogance of the system and power, of conformism, of war, of consumerism, of poverty and of the human condition. As the artist himself stated: "A wall is a great weapon. It's one of the worst things to hit someone with. "

The exhibition that opens today in Milan at Mudec is dedicated to the brilliant English street artist: The art of Banksy. A visual protest. Curated by Gianni Mercurio, it collects about 80 works including paintings, sculptures and prints accompanied by objects, photographs and videos that tell the story of the artistic journey of a myth whose identity continues to be anonymous. Naturally, this exhibition is not authorized by the author...

Unanimously considered a great communicator, Banksy emphasizes the content of political and social messages explicitly, shifting the message from form to content.
The exhibition path at Mudec allows to read and understand strategies, sense and objectives of the messages and the stylistic cipher of the most pungent and efficient clandestine author. We do not forget, in fact, that, as a genuine exponent of guerrilla art, he refined the stencil technique with the dual purpose of being able to carry out illegal work with considerable speed.

Painter man, painter woman, ore a collective of artists. But also a madman, a genius, a rebel and a skilled computer. Beyond the definitions, Banksy likes and attracts. "His works are full of metaphorical images that transcend linguistic barriers," says Shepard Fairey, a well-known American street artist. "The images are fun and brilliant, yet so simple and accessible: even if the children of 6 years have no idea what a cultural conflict is, they will have no problem recognizing that there is something wrong when they see the Mona Lisa, a famous mural, which holds a flamethrower ".

Palazzo Giureconsulti, Milan - 18 and 19 September 2019

This year's edition of Mad Mood celebrates the happy woman of her soft forms with a picture on large blockboard, painted with enamel and brushstrokes of magnet, entitled: Divina. "I love to paint the female body, enhancing femininity", says the author Luna Berlusconi. "It is the subject that more than any other inspires me. What I try to convey in my Nudes, so far the most substantial series of my production, is sensuality: with this word I don't mean the perfection proposed by advertisements and magazines, but an energy that comes from within, a security that makes any woman unique and beautiful. The forms of my Divine are a cry, which invites us to leave stereotypes behind and to seek beauty within ourselves ".

Bob Krieger Imagine
Palazzo Morando, Milan - Until June 30, 2019

Artistic fashion photography has always been committed to capturing the seduction given off by a fashion item, often worn by fascinating models with great appeal. Not many people succeed in capturing the soul of a suit and its wearer in a single click. In this Bob Krieger succeeds very well. And to witness its (vast) production between the Sixties and Nineties of the last century, Palazzo Morando organized an exhibition itinerary that excites and surprises for the quantity of faces and clothes able to tell the fashion world of the time, that the author managed to capture and give us thanks to his personal approach to the camera and the protagonists of his shots: "My relationship with stylists was not one of abuse, I always looked after his talent," he said.

Photo: Valentino 1969 by Bob Krieger

A Visual Protest. The art of Banksy
Mudec, Milano – fino al 14 aprile 2019

Un autore misterioso e affascinante, capace di scatenare una vera e propria caccia alle sue opere (e alle sue denunce visuali) quando si sparge la voce che è arrivato in città. E sì, perché da New York al muro che separa la Cisgiordania allo stato d’Israele, a Napoli, il tocco di Banksy ha raggiunto (presumibilmente nottetempo e al riparo da occhi indiscreti) gli edifici delle principali metropoli di tutto il mondo. Con messaggi che sono un’esplicita e mordace provocazione nei confronti dell’arroganza del sistema e del potere, del conformismo, della guerra, del consumismo, della povertà e della condizione umana. Come lo stesso autore ha dichiarato: “Un muro è una grande arma. E’ una delle cose peggiori con cui colpire qualcuno”.

Al geniale street artist inglese è dedicata la mostra che apre oggi a Milano al Mudec: The art of Banksy. A visual protest. Curata da Gianni Mercurio, raccoglie circa 80 lavori tra dipinti, sculture e stampe accompagnati da oggetti, fotografie e video che raccontano il percorso artistico di un mito la cui identità continua a essere anonima. Naturalmente, questa mostra non è autorizzata dall’autore…

Considerato all’unanimità un grande comunicatore, Banksy accentua il contenuto dei messaggi politici e sociali in maniera esplicita, spostando il messaggio dalla forma al contenuto.
Il percorso espositivo al Mudec permette di leggere e comprendere strategie, senso e obiettivi dei messaggi e la cifra stilistica dell’autore clandestino più pungente ed efficiente. Non dimentichiamo, infatti, che, da autentico esponente della guerrilla art, ha affinato la tecnica dello stencil con il duplice scopo di poter eseguire i lavori illegali con una notevole velocità.

Pittore, pittrice, un collettivo di artisti. Ma anche un pazzo, un genio, un ribelle e un abile calcolatore. Al di là delle derinizioni, Banksy piace e attrae. “Le sue opere sono piene di immagini metaforiche che trascendono le barriere linguistiche”, dice di lui Shepard Fairey, noto street artist americano. “Le immagini sono divertenti e brillanti, eppure talmente semplici e accessibili: anche se i bambini di 6 anni non hanno la minima idea di cosa sia un conflitto culturale, non avranno alcun problema a riconoscere che c’è qualcosa che non quadra quando vedono la Monna Lisa, un celebre murale, che impugna un lanciafiamme”.

Christ died in the tomb and three sorrows of Andrea Mantegna, Tempera on canvas, 1470-1474, cm68x81, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.

Veiled Christ, Giuseppe Sanmartino, marble statue, 1753, cm180x80x50, Cappella Sansevero, Naples.

Marble is the element that unites these two absolute masterpieces. On the one hand, the plan of support on which the Christ of Mantegna is placed is a cold, sepulchral table on which the sacrifice reaches its epilogue. It is nevertheless so earthly that it does not allow us to imagine the uniqueness of the spiritual value of the Resurrection. While the warm wood of the cross has held back the blood, the sweat and the atrocious suffering of the agony almost as if it did not want to reject it to become itself a symbol, on the other the stone of the anoint welcomes and fixes the eternity of a message that passes through matter and becomes history.
But this same matter, in Sammartino's work, takes on dynamism, softness, transparency... This time the stone becomes flesh, stripping itself of the hardness that Mantegna can describe with clarity, giving the same body of Christ a cold consistency. Paradoxically, with the brush it is possible to make the stiffness of a hard material; instead the chisel makes the fugacity of something that would soon lose shape, volume, color. And the sculptor manages it with an almost alchemical extraordinaryness.
Both examples are certainly born from the fusion between technical magic and exceptional yield of humanity and spirituality, inevitably producing perfection within an artistic language.

Di Feliciano Marotta

For more information:
http://pinacotecabrera.org/proposte-educazione/intorno-a-mantegna-e-carracci/
http://www.museosansevero.it/it/cristo-velato/la-statua

There is a rose that blooms every year on June 21st in Milan, the day of the summer solstice, with a special prize. It is called Rosa di Brera and it is assigned to those who stood out in particular for the support of the Pinacoteca di Brera's projects.

Now in its second edition, the award goes to Rena De Sisto, Bank of America Merrill Lynch's global executive for Arts & Culture and Women's programs. "People make the difference, and when the right person is in the right position, the world can change for the better," says James Bradburne, the brilliant director of the Pinacoteca di Brera in the award's motivation. "In the last decade Rena De Sisto was responsible for the creation of the visionary art conservation project of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which involved, among other things, the restoration of Napoleon's sculpture in the courtyard of Brera, the restyling of Pinacoteca's laboratory and the restoration of the monumental canvas by Tiepolo".

The prize gave to Rena De Sisto consists of an enchanting gold and pink enamel pin decorated with a 1.13 cm rubellite surrounded by a corolla of diamonds created by Giampiero Bodino. The master and artist of fine jewelry has created this wonder inspired by the Rosa di Brera, a variety created especially for Brera da Barni, a Tuscan nursery specializing in roses. Since last year the Rose of Brera is also cultivated in the Botanical Garden of Brera.

After numerous vicissitudes that saw him wandering from 1610 between Italy and France to then finally arrive at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan where today it is preserved, after four years of careful and intense work the restoration of the preparatory Carton of the School of Athens by Raffaello Sanzio has come to an end. An immense, magical, revealed composition that takes your breath away. Although the work is known as the School of Athens, the correct title is The Philosophy is has great artistic and historical value.
"The preparatory carton for the Athens school is unique in the history of art. Not only is it the only Renaissance preparatory cartoon of this size, almost complete until nowadays, but it represents the culmination of the ideational process of Raphael (Urbino 1483 - Rome 1520) for one of the works symbol of the Italian Renaissance: the fresco of School of Athens in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican commissioned to the artist by Pope Julius II ”, declares Maurizio Michelozzi in a note, who directed and coordinated the restoration on a design by Stefano Boeri Architetti.

The secrets of the Atlantic Code. Leonardo at the Ambrosiana
First part
Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana - Until March 17, 2019

The celebrations for the year of Leonardo at the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana have already begun last year. To be exact on December 18, 2018 with an exciting exhibition itinerary, which will last throughout 2019, in a crescendo of very interesting initiatives.
The first stage of this compelling long-term exhibition is the The Secrets of the Atlantic Code. Leonardo all'Ambrosiana focused on the precious sheets that preserve the most fascinating drawings that the genius elaborated with the artistic expertise that is universally recognized.

The Codex Atlanticus arrived at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in 1637 as a gift from Count Galeazzo Arconati, an exponent of the best Milanese aristocracy. This is an amazing collection of 1119 autograph sheets for a total of about 1750 drawings. The name "atlantic" does not indicate the content of the code, but the format of the large pages (which were normally used to make atlases) on which the sheets were glued to better preserve them and protect them from possible dispersions.

The Codex Atlanticus is the most important and complete Leonardian collection in the world; in it are mixed all the disciplines cultivated by the great genius of Vinci from the young years until just before death: architecture and plumbing, medicine and optics, mechanics and urban planning, geometry and the astronomy, anatomy and the various visual arts. Noteworthy are the projects of self-propelled machines, of increasingly sophisticated weapons, of gears and devices, of which Leonardo has left wonderful designs that often become real works of art.

Here are the dates of the next stages.
The second part - from March 19 to June 16, 2019 - will propose some projects for war machines, but will focus in particular on civil engineering studies: hydraulic devices, rope machines, for textile activities, for the production of instruments mechanical, punching machines and automatic roasters.

The third review, Leonardo in France. Drawings of the French period from the Codex Atlanticus, from 18 June to 15 September 2019, edited by Pietro C. Marani, will deepen the last years of the master's activity, through a selection of 23 sheets from the Atlantic Codex datable to the French stay of Leonardo, at the court of Francesco I.

Leonardo's year at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana ends with the exhibition Leonardo and his legacy: the artists and the techniques, curated by Benedetta Spadaccini, scheduled from 17 September 2018 to 12 January 2020, dedicated to the drawings made by Leonardo and the artists of his circle.