Location: Palazzo Sozzifanti, Pistoia
Dates: 10 May to 26 July 2015
Curated by Bruno Corà
One hundred years after his birth, many countries, and especially the United States, will pay homage to the great Umbrian artist Alberto Burri, who, as Bruno Corà says, “demolished and reconfigured western art.”
It is an anniversary that the city of Pistoia is also about to commemorate with a great exhibition. The exhibition presents a significant nucleus of works of art that are part of the collection owned by Giuliano Gori, one of Burri’s greatest friends since the sixties, and a series of photographs by Aurelio Amendola, with whom Burri had a long professional relationship. These snap-shots provide a faithful portrait of the artist and the man. The image that made Burri famous all over the world was one take by Amendola. It is part of a spectacular series of photographs of “Combustions” created in Morra’s studio in 1976. Alberto Burri’s relationship with the city of Pistoia is also testified by the Grande Ferro Celle, a sculpture designed by the artist in 1986 specifically for the open space along the road from Montale to Pistoia, just after the access road for the Fattoria di Celle di Santomato, where the Gori collection is housed.
In addition to works of art belonging to the Gori collection, mainly created in the fifties, the exhibition also allows one to admire the historically important work of art entitled Sacco, dated 1952, on loan from the Palazzo Albizzini Foundation, the Burri Collection in Città di Castello. The sacks represent an important part of Burri’s personal history and that of post-war Italy. They can be considered Italian art’s answer to the language of informal art.
The exhibition is curated by the architect Tiziano Sarteanesi, the memorable curator of settings for the artist’s exhibitions.
The exhibition is sponsored by the Cassa di Risparmio di Pistoia e Pescia Foundation.